The Wizard and the Grimm
by EmeraldGuardian7
Summary: [HP: Post OotP AU] [RWBY: Vol 1 AU] Voldemort, failing to both gain the prophecy & to possess Harry Potter, decides to end the threat to his power by throwing him through the Veil of Death. Now Harry's awoken to find himself in a new world. Enrolled at Beacon, he is making new friends and learning new skills. Little does he know his old friends are still looking for him.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

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 _ **A/N:** I just finished RWBY for the first time and started having ideas for a crossover with the Harry Potter universe. I'm not abandoning my other story but I just had to get some of this out. Don't expect many updates for either of my stories until at least the end of June as I am taking some summer classes in University. This story will have a Harry/Pyrrha pairing. I think Jaune will be in the story but probably in the background and I'm not sure what I'll do with him yet. I hope you enjoy! Leave me a review and let me know what you think! Oh and the few italicized lines at the beginning of this chapter are taken directly from Order of the Phoenix which I obviously don't own. _

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_**"Kill me now, Dumbledore …"**_

 _ **Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him again ...**_

 _ **"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy …"**_

 _ **Let the pain stop, thought Harry ... let him kill us ... end it, Dumbledore ... death is nothing compared to this ...**_

 _ **And I'll see Sirius again ...**_

 _ **And as Harry's heart filled with emotion, the creature's coils loosened, the pain was gone; Harry was lying face down on the floor, his glasses gone, shivering as though he lay upon ice, not wood ...**_

 _ **And there were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than there should have been ... Harry opened his eyes, saw his glasses lying by the heel of the headless statue that had been guarding him, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile.**_

Suddenly the voices turned into screams. Grabbing his glasses he pushed himself to his feet. He just got a glimpse of Dumbledore's frightened face before the spell hit him from behind, freezing him in place. Someone had a tight grip on his arm.

"Let him go Tom," Dumbledore's voice rang out into the atrium. Harry was still trying to catch up with what was going on, but what he did notice was Minister Fudge standing at the front of the crowd of new arrivals. At first he thought that the minister was staring at him in fear but it was moments later that he realized it was whoever was standing behind him. That was when he heard the voice. The voice that would have sent shivers down his spine if he was able to move at all.

"No Dumbledore. This is going to end tonight." And thus the dark lord tightened his grip on Harry's arm and they popped out of existence. Harry wasn't sure what was going on, but all he knew was that it felt as if his whole body were being compressed and squeezed through a narrow tube. When they popped back into existence, Harry saw stars, the spell he was under being the only thing keeping him upright.

As his vision started to clear he found himself back where he had been just minutes before, standing in front of the veil that had claimed his godfathers life. Looking down the steps he saw Remus and Tonks staring at him in shock and fear, his friends behind them. Both Ron and Hermione looked to be unconscious. Ginny was awake though, staring at him in wide eyed horror before a determined look came over her face. She began to limp towards him on her injured ankle with her wand raised.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you girl," Voldemort snarled, emphasizing his point by pressing the tip of his wand into Harry's neck. Ginny faltered and stopped advancing but didn't lower her wand. Harry was silently impressed as she proceeded to glare over his shoulder, but Harry soon saw her wince in pain.

Her hand reaching up towards her forehead. Harry struggled against his invisible bonds. He knew that expression, as it was the same one that had often marred his own face after occlumency lessons with Snape. Voldemort was invading her mind.

"What's this? Someone else in love with young Harry here? Love!" He spat the word. "What a useless emotion. Dumbledore is always preaching about it how will save you, but it only leads to weakness. Tell me girl! Would you give your life for him, like his mudblood moth-"

Suddenly he paused. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye something silver shoot out of Tonks' wand and leave the chamber. Ginny doubled over in pain and Voldemort's voice changed from faintly amused and disgusted to enraged, "I've been in your mind before… There's a trace... When have I-" He paused again as Ginny gasped. "LUCIUS!" Harry was pretty sure that he had just discovered that his diary had been destroyed.

Before anything else could happen in this vein several pops announced the arrival of Dumbledore and the Aurors. "Ah, Dumbledore! You've arrived. Good." He brandished his arm gesturing towards Harry. "Here is your prophesied saviour! Your chosen one." The mockery was evident in his voice. "The only one with the supposed power to beat me! I'll admit I failed to kill him all those years ago, he escaped death last year too, and he's even resisted my attempts at possession! Luckily this will be a problem no more! I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I won't be the one to kill Harry Potter… it will be done for me." He let out an insane cackle.

"Tom. Let him go. I will allow you to leave here unhampered, just let him go." Dumbledore, ever the politician, continued to speak in measured tone, though Harry, for the first time in his life, noticed the panicked look in the ancient wizards eyes.

"As you wish Dumbledore," he gave an overly flourished bow before Harry felt himself being pushed backward. Shouts broke out around the chamber as spells were exchanged. Something hit him in the chest and suddenly he could move again. He stumbled around spinning to face the direction of his movement. The problem though, was that despite being free, his momentum was still forcing him in the same direction as before. So it was, that his last thoughts before crashing face first into the veil, were of how he would get to see Sirius and his parents again soon.

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Harry felt as if he were floating. Looking around in a vast black expanse, Harry imagined this is what it would be like to float through outer-space. There was a bright light ahead of him. It was almost like looking into the sun. He could hear the whispers of voices coming from that direction. The same whispers he'd heard when he'd first come across the veil.

As soon as these thoughts formed, he noticed that he was accelerating. He was heading faster and faster towards the light. All of a sudden there were flashes of colour passing on either side of him. Glancing over he realized different scenes were playing out. It was like watching the TV back at the Dursley's.

In one such instance he saw himself in Dumbledore's office, he was watching a pensieve and then talking. Suddenly the other him stood and started smashing the contents of the office.

Shaking his head he looked at the next one, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, as he saw another version of him snogging one Ginny Weasley. It shifted after that and he saw the two of them, much older, leading what appeared to be their children to platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Quickly moving on he saw Sirius alive and hugging him in the Hogwarts hospital wing after the battle in the Ministry. On and on they went. He saw himself fighting Voldemort often, sometimes, strangely enough Dumbledore too. Sometimes the both of them. He even saw one where he was fighting Grindelwald, the Dark Lord Dumbledore had defeated when he was younger. He only knew who it was because of a picture he'd seen in Flourish and Blotts several years earlier.

He saw himself dating many different girls, often Ginny or Hermione, sometimes others from Hogwarts like Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, the Patil twins, and even Luna. He was surprised to see himself dating several Slytherins. He recognized Daphne Greengrass in many of these visions, probably the most other than Ginny and Hermione. One that really threw his head for a loop was when he saw himself making out with Fleur Delacour. He wondered how that would come about. She'd never paid that much attention to him during the tournament, not that it seemed the dream version of him was complaining.

A couple times he saw himself growing up with his parents, younger siblings at his side. Once he even saw his bedroom at Private Drive, but instead of him, it was a girl his age with the same black hair and green eyes. Harry was starting to suspect that these were visions of things that could have been. Alternate realities if you will.

After a while the visions began to change even more. He no longer featured in them. What he saw didn't even resemble the earth he knew. Some of them looked like they were trapped in the middle ages, others in a technologically advanced future. It was around this time, as he was getting close to the light, that he felt the pain in his scar increase exponentially.

It was worse than in first year, worse than when Voldemort had touched him for the first time. He was sure his head was about to burst, when it felt as if something had been ripped loose. The pain suddenly stopped, but whatever it was had jerked him off course. He was speeding away from the light now towards one of those strange visions.

As he touched one, he felt something rather reminiscent of a portkey. Spiraling into the sensation, he lost consciousness once again.


	2. Chapter 1: A New World

**Chapter 1: _A New World_**

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 _ **A/N:** Please leave me a review to let me know what you guys think! I hope you enjoy!_

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Harry woke to the low murmur of voices. The first thing he noticed was that he was laying on a bed. Cracking open his eyes, he took in the blurry world around him. From what he could make out, which wasn't much without his glasses, he appeared to be in some kind of hospital wing. This wasn't uncommon occurrence for him but one thing was for sure though, it wasn't Hogwarts.

Thinking back he tried to figure out what the last thing he remembered was. He came up blank until Sirius' face flashed in front of his eyes. Then the rest all came rushing back. Sirius falling through the veil. Dumbledore's duel with Voldemort. Him being taken hostage. Voldemort invading Ginny's mind. Being thrown through the veil. Everything he had seen after that and the intense pain he had felt in his scar.

Finally he noticed his glasses laying on the table, so he snagged them and put them on. The world swam into focus on the right side but his left eye was still having difficulty seeing. Taking them off again he noticed the large crack running down the one lense causing him to groan. At least he could see for now, even if it would be annoying. He would have to repair them later with his wa… Thinking of his wand he realized he didn't know where it was. Starting to panic, he once again looked around the room he was in. He didn't see his wand anywhere but he did confirm his suspicions about being in some kind of hospital. He'd spent enough time in Madam Pomfrey's care to be able to tell.

Harry heard the voices from earlier cease and then footsteps approaching the room. Tensing in anticipation of what was to come, Harry held his breath. A woman walked in, obviously a nurse. "Ah. Good, you're up." She spoke with a bit of an accent, North American he thought. Reaching his bed she continued, "I patched up a couple minor scrapes and bruises, nothing major though. We weren't sure what to do with you and thought it best for your to remain here, monitored, while you rested."

Harry nodded, but inside was feeling slightly guilty for getting off so easily while all his friends had suffered more severe injuries. Thinking about that led to thinking about Sirius and… the veil. He remembered what had happened after passing through it and was sure if he had continued and gone into that light he would be dead but he hadn't. He realized that this might be the best opportunity to discover where it had dropped him.

"Thank you, but… where exactly am I?"

"This is the hospital wing at Beacon."

"Uhh… Beacon?" He asked blankly.

The nurse furrowed her brow in confusion, "Beacon Huntsman Academy… haven't you heard of it?"

"Err… no... I'm not really from around here. Where is Beacon located?"

"The Kingdom of Vale of course!"

"The what?" Harry was starting to get a sinking feeling in his gut and his mind was wandering to all those strange visions he'd seen in the veil.

"Don't play game with me child!" The nurse snapped and then scoffed, "As if someone wouldn't know about Beacon, let alone Vale."

"I'm sorry but I don't! I've never heard of Vale before. I'm from Britain, if you could tell me where in the world I am in relation to there it might be helpful."

"Britain? Never heard of it? Which of the Kingdoms are you from? Or is it one of those towns on the… outside?" She said the last bit with a hint of distaste. Where this 'outside' she was referring to was, it didn't seem that people held it in high esteem.

"Well it's part of the United Kingdom but that's just a country. I don't know if that's the same type of Kingdom you're talking about. I can't believe I've never heard of Vale and you've never heard of England. Everybody's heard of England! How about Scotland? Ireland? Whales? No? We must not be in Europe anymore? Are we in Europe?" He knew he was rambling at this point but this whole situation seemed strange… well stranger than can be expected from surviving a magical veil that supposed to kill everything that enters it but Harry was used to strange. He'd done the impossible before so he started trying to think about what he saw in the veil in detail.

As much as he didn't want to consider it, Harry's mind kept on wandering back to something Hermione had once told him, when he'd become interested in time travel after third year. After seeing the time turner in action, his thoughts had inadvertently wandered to its other possible uses. Most importantly going back in time to save his parents. Hermione had been quick to put that notion to bed. She had explained how it was impossible with modern day time turners, that they only went up to twenty-four hours back and wouldn't let you do anything to create a paradox. Of course being Hermione, she had studied up extensively on the subject at the beginning of the year, and finding Harry, a seemingly interested party, she had continued to ramble on about all the different theories she had discovered. One of which was popping into his head now. It had been a theory that there were an infinite number of universes parallel to their own. That every time someone made a choice about something in their everyday lives, a new universe was created where the other choice had been taken. This was the only thing that he could think of that made sense of all the strange visions of himself he'd seen in the veil. He really hoped this wasn't the case but knowing his luck for strange situations, it wouldn't surprise him. If he was indeed in another world he would need to talk to someone with knowledge on the subject. He wondered if there was a magical community here.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he glanced up at the nurse who looked like she was about to make an angry retort to his last statement when she was cut off. "That's ok Miss Gamboge. Why don't you step out for a moment so I can have a little chat with our young guest." She nodded stiffly to the man who had spoken and departed the wing. Said man was a tall and striking figure. He had grey hair, though he only looked to be in his early forties. As the man sat down he watched Harry closely in silence. Something about the way he did so reminded him eerily of how Professor Dumbledore would always watch him over his half-moon spectacles.

"So… Mr. ?"

"Potter. Err… Harry Potter."

"Mr. Potter, my name is Professor Ozpin. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Nurse Gamboge. I pride myself on knowing much about Remnant but regretfully I have never heard of this… Britain either… it's always possible it has escaped my notice as I'm not able to keep track of every little settlement that pops up but I think I would know of a fifth Kingdom. That doesn't matter for the moment though. I'm more surprised at your manner of arrival and I was wondering if you could explain how your semblance works to me? It seems like a powerful gift."

"What's a semblance?"

For the first time the man actually looked surprised but he quickly hid it, "You did that without even knowing what a semblance is? Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. It is a more tangible projection of one's Aura. Who unlocked your Aura by the way? They should explained this to you. I've seen many different abilities throughout the years but yours could be especially dangerous. You are lucky you teleported into the school and not into a den of Grimm."

Harry's head was spinning once again. He was almost positive he wasn't on his world anymore but something Ozpin had said caught his attention. The way he talked about Semblances, Aura, and the fact that he had teleported, which Harry realized was probably just him exiting the veil, made him think this might be how they described magic. This man would probably be the best one to talk to about his problem. Now he just had to figure out how to bring it up.

"I think I might have travelled here from an alternate universe." He silently berated himself for just blurting it out like that.

"I see…" He paused for several moments. "I do know they exist, that is how the Grimm came to rest in our world in the first place, but I have never met a human traveller from another world. Interesting…"

"Err… right." Harry was actually very surprised that he had believed him right away. "So… do you know how I can get back to my world?"

"Unfortunately not," Ozpin seemed lost in silent contemplation, slowly sipping his coffee.

He had to take a moment to combat the feelings of fear and loss that threatened to overwhelm him at the professor's reply. One thing was for certain though, if he was going to survive in this new world he needed to know more about it. "So this semblance… is it like magic?"

"No, as I said before it is a manifestation of your Aura, the energy from your soul. I'm curious on how you managed to travel here. I'm guessing it has nothing to do with your semblance if you've never even heard the word before?"

"Well… you see in my world there is magic. Some people are born with it and others are not. If you are you are a wizard or witch. There is big magical arch in the Ministry of Magic, which is the government in my country to those with magic, and it's said that it is supposed to kill whoever goes through it, sending their soul directly to the afterlife. I got pushed through and now I'm here… alive." He was pretty sure that the Statute of Secrecy only extended as far as his dimension.

"Fascinating! It is not often I come across things I've never heard of. It does make sense though. I could feel a strange energy around you but I had assumed it had to do with your semblance… but a world where magic is possible…" he trailed off. "What can it do? Are you able to demonstrate?"

"It can pretty much do anything!" Harry responded excitedly. Despite being in his fifth year the magical world was still new to him when compared to people who had grown up in it like Ron. "Well… except for bringing back the dead and conjuring food. Do you know where my wand is?"

"Ahh… I'm assuming you might mean this." The professor handed over a long box. "We found it on you. Originally I was going to throw it away but it had a similar energy signature to what you were giving off so I decided to hang on to it until you awoke. I believe it was damaged quite severely during your trip."

Harry opened the box and couldn't stifle his gasp. All that remained of his once beautiful Holly wand, was a charred and blackened stick. He gently reached inside to pick it up only for it to crumble apart in his hands leaving behind a shimmering red and gold feather. He noticed the professor stiffen in his chair. "What is that? The energy levels coming of that feather are enormous. It seems similar to red dust but more potent… how often do you have to reload the power source of your wands? How does that work? I thought you said magic was an innate power from your body?"

"We never have to reload it… we only have to replace them if they get broken…" He trailed off sadly as he looked down at what remained of his wand. Thinking back to the explanations they had gotten at Hogwarts he continued on, "Our wands act as a focus for our magic. They amplify it. Oh and this is a phoenix feather. Every wand has a core from a magical animal. A phoenix is a magical bird in my world. It has feathers like you see here, all over it's body. They are immensely strong, one time when I was twelve, my headmasters phoenix rescued my professor, my friend, his sister, and me by flying all of us at once out of an underground chamber. They are also immortal, anytime they reach an old age or are killed, they burst into flame, and a baby phoenix is born from the ashes. Their tears also have healing powers. The same phoenix also saved my life once when I was bitten by a Basilisk by crying into the wound." At Ozpin's questioning look Harry continued his explanation. "A basilisk is a giant snake bred through dark magic. If you look it in the eye you die instantly and its poison is considered the most deadly in the world. That's what happened to me I was fighting a basilisk that had been hidden under our school for a thousand years, this thing was close to seventy feet long, and I stabbed it through the roof of its mouth with a sword but it's fang got me anyway. I was dying until Fawkes, the phoenix I was talking about earlier, saved me."

Ozpin looked momentarily shocked at this new information but his gaze soon turned speculative. It seems you've been in your fare share of dangerous situations. Will you be able to create another wand?"

"No, there are special wandmakers we have to purchase them from. I don't know enough to even create a makeshift one… what am I going to do? I have no money, no friends, no family! Now I don't even have magic to help me!"

"So you cannot perform magic with a wand?"

"No! I need a…" he paused as something he had once learned in History of Magic came back to him. In the past, the first witches and wizards performed magic without the aid of a focus but nowadays it almost unheard of… except Harry knew he had seen Dumbledore light candles with just his fingers… and in first year he had changed the banners in the great hall with just a wave of his hands. "I believe you can actually. It's just supposed to be extremely difficult. The only person I've ever seen do it was the headmaster of my school but he was considered the most powerful wizard in the world!"

"You attend a school to study magic in your world?"

"Yes, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Hmm… if I may ask, how old are you Mr. Potter?"

"Err… fifteen. I'll be sixteen in just over a month."

"I see. If our worlds are at all similar, I am assuming you are getting close to the time to choose your profession… if so, I am curious as to what you planned to do?"

"I want to be an auror!" At Ozpin's blank look, Harry realized his mistake. "It's like a cross between a Police Officer and a Soldier in the magical world."

"I'm not sure if you remember from earlier, but you are currently are residing at Beacon Huntsmen Academy. In our world Huntsman sound to be very similar to your Aurors… minus the magic of course. Their job is to protect humanity from the creature of Grimm-"

"Creatures of Grimm?" Harry gulped.

"Yes the grimm are creatures of destruction. They lack a soul and are drawn to negative emotions."

"Sounds like the dementors…" Harry murmured.

"What's that?"

"Oh I was just thinking out loud. How you describe these Grimm remind me of creatures we have back home called dementors… they are wraithlike creatures that feed upon human happiness. If they get close enough they can perform something known as the dementor's kiss, where they suck someone's soul out their mouth." Harry shuddered.

"That sounds… unpleasant. I'm glad to say, even though the Grimm are a massive threat, they have never shown the ability to remove one's soul. As I was saying before, it is a huntsman's job to fight the Grimm and keep the peace throughout the four Kingdoms. I believe if you would allow me to study this feather, my colleagues and I may be able to come up with a suitable replacement focus for your wand. We have some of the best hunters and scientists here at Beacon who are used to working with strange energies like Aura. Normally students start Beacon at the age of seventeen but as Headmaster I can grant you admittance to my school. I have already done so for another special case, who is starting two years early this year. I believe your unique skillset would be a huge advantage in the fight against the Grimm. What do you say?"

Harry knew his answer almost immediately. He would do almost anything for the chance to get a working wand again. He was going to need his magic to survive this new world. He knew this would also give him the chance to stay in school and figure out his new life. As was pointed out to him, this was the line of work he wanted to do anyways. "That sounds great Professor Ozpin!"

"Wonderful. Now, if you will allow it, I wanted to see if I am able to unlock your Aura. I'm not quite sure what it will do to you. You may be able to eventually discover a semblance on top of your magical abilities… in any case it should at least give you the passive protections that are granted to the other huntsmen."

"Ahh… sure," he responded a little uncertainly.

"Excellent, now just try and relax." The headmaster placed his palm gently on Harry's chest. He closed his eyes with a look of deep concentration. To his surprise, Ozpin started to glow an olive green in colour. Suddenly, Harry started to feel his body start to tingle all over, then it was suffused with warmth. It reminded Harry of what he felt the first time he picked up his wand except that this feeling covered his whole body. Looking down at his hand he saw that he had started to glow as well. It was also green but a different shade, more like the colour of his eyes. He knew some people called it emerald green. All of a sudden, there was a big surge of energy and Ozpin hastily removed his hand as if burned. "That was an interesting experience."

"Did it work?"

"I believe so. Your Aura seemed to react like normal at first but once it was released, the amount that was present was staggering. It had a slightly different feel to it as well, once it became active throughout your body, it had an… aggressive… response to what it considered to be a foreign presence."

"I feel different," Harry said again looking down at his hands. He felt like his whole body was humming with magic, something he only ever felt when in the middle of casting a spell with his wand. Deciding to try something he took of his glasses and place his hand over the cracked lense. "Reparo." He spoke firmly. There was a tingle in the palm of his hand but nothing happened. Scowling he focused on what he wanted to happen as intently as he had when first learning the patronus charm. "Reparo!" There was the sound of a small crack and the lense was back in perfect condition. Placing them back onto his face, he smiled at his now perfect vision before the wave of exhaustion hit him, causing him to slump back into his bed.

"Fascinating… so you are now able to perform magic without your wand?"

"Ya… it worked but the energy demand is substantial. It's a simple spell. I shouldn't have felt a thing but now I'm absolutely knackered. I don't think I can do much like this but it's good to know for emergencies."

"Hmm… but you were unable to do even that before?"

"I'd never really tried much but no, not that I know of."

"Well, it shows that your magic is probably related to your Aura like I thought. This gives me a lot to think on. I'll get working on replacing your wand for you but for now you should rest. Once they release your from the hospital wing we should talk some more to figure out the details of your upcoming time here at Beacon. It was nice meeting you Mr. Potter." With that he picked up the box containing the remains of his wand and left the wing. Harry let his head fall back on his pillow as he tried to sort through the day's discoveries.


	3. Chapter 2: Initiation

**Chapter 2:** _ **Initiation**_

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 _ **A/N:**_ _For those who read the following chapter and get worried about my characterization Weiss, don't be. They are just Harry's initial opinions without even talking to her. We all know how he feels about rich, spoilt, and entitled people. He'll eventually get to know all of team RWBY. So to repeat it's just for the moment that she'll be written like this, just like in the beginning of vol 1 of canon. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this. Please leave me a review to let me know what you all think._

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Harry entered the elevator pressing the button to reach the top of the tower. He was currently heading to Ozpin's office. He had received word from Glynda Goodwitch, Beacon's version of Professor McGonagall, at breakfast, that the headmaster had wanted to see him. He assumed it had something to do with initiation because the other new students were due to arrive soon anyway.

He had met with Ozpin several times over the past few weeks, since his arrival in this world, to make sure he was adjusting ok. Harry had gotten out of the hospital wing as soon as they would let him leave and had been put up in a visitors suite until today, when he would move into the dormitories with the rest of the students.

He had spent his time wisely in the school's large library trying to learn what he could about this world. It wasn't nearly enough but at least now he had a better understanding of how the world, Remnant, was divided. He also had a better understanding of what aura was, and of course dust. What had surprised him the most was discovering that there was a whole other race of people living on Remnant. Humanoid beings mixed with animals, called the faunus. Sadly he'd soon discovered the histories of the last human/faunus war. It all read the same as the troubles back home. The discrimination against muggleborns, veelas, goblins, house elves, etc… It made him sick. He couldn't understand what the big deal was. So what if someone has rabbit ears, or a dog's tail?

He shook himself out of these thoughts as the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Stepping out into the spacious office Harry approached Ozpin's desk. "Good morning Professor Ozpin."

"Good morning Harry." The headmaster had begun addressing him more familiarly as they had gotten to know each other over the past few weeks.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes… I wanted to let you know that we finished your wand in time for initiation."

"Really?" Harry felt the excitement bubbling up inside of him. He'd felt naked and exposed without it. He was eager to have it back."

"It was a little tricky but we believe that if it works, it may prove to be more effective than your original." He placed and opened a box in front of him on the desk. Harry was shocked.

"I-it's made of metal?"

"Most of the weapons we used here in Remnant are. Unfortunately we do not possess the knowledge of magic that your wandmakers back home do, so we had to use technology to get the desired result."

"But technology doesn't work around or with magic? It always breaks down!"

"Ah yes, we did run into some snags in that area, but I assure you it shouldn't cause any problems now. We've been working with technology and aura, which sometimes has a similar effect, for years. It just took some modification to work with the frequency your magic seems to run on. Luckily we got some readings on its energy levels from when you were in the hospital."

"Wow… I guess I should give it a wave then." Harry smiled at his own joke, eyes fixed on the golden coloured wand, not noticing Ozpin's confused expression. It looked to be slightly longer than his original wand. Reaching out he picked it up and released a slight gasp when it gave him a small shock. The wand hummed to life in his hands, little lights shining along its length in a brilliant emerald green, the same as his aura, which had just happened to flare to life when he first grasped the wand. He could feel his magic resonating along with the new wand.

Thinking about the best way to test it, he decided on something simple to start. Raising it up in front of him he spoke the short incantation. "Lumos!" The resulting beam of light was not what he had been expecting. It shot through the window like giant search light. He couldn't help but think that if anyone was looking at Beacon tower right now, it probably looked like a giant lighthouse. With that thought he hurriedly dispelled it with a quick "nox."

"Sorry," he offered sheepishly as he noticed Ozpin blinking and shaking his head.

"That's quite alright. How does that compare with your original wand?"

"I never would have believed it, but it's actually better! I'm not sure if it's the wand or because you unlocked my aura though. That spell should have cast a small amount of light, equivalent to a small flashlight but, as you see, it was a lot stronger!"

"I trust you will be careful when experimenting? If that was supposed to be a simple spell, then it could be dangerous if you lose control of something more powerful."

"Of course! I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Perfect. We were able to have the wand powered by ambient energy that the Phoenix Feather gives off. My colleagues and I were astounded by it's potential. It's a shame there's no way get more of them. All the same, it is probably for the best. It could be a very dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. We also inserted dust cartridges into the bottom so it should give you a boost anytime you are using spells corresponding with one of its elements. Unfortunately unlike your feather, you will have to replace these every once and awhile."

"Wow! If only I'd had this back home!"

"Why is that?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow in silent question.

Harry considered what to say. In all his talks with Ozpin he had not mentioned anything about Voldemort, but he couldn't see why it would hurt now. "Well, back home there was a war brewing. A dark wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort," Harry paused and was momentarily surprised when there was no flinch at his name as he'd become accustomed to. "He's been trying to take over the wizarding world. The only one he was scared of was my old Headmaster that I'd told you about. Anyway, he's been trying to kill me for years and if I'd had this wand back then, I probably would have been able to protect my friends and myself better."

"You said your old Headmaster was considered the most powerful Wizard of your world? If he was the only one this Voldemort feared, then I assume he was also considered very powerful. I mean no disrespect by this question, but why would he be attempting to kill single teenager such as yourself?"

"Well… there was some kind of prophecy about the two of us. I don't know what it said… I never heard it but I think that's why he was always coming after me. He came for me when I was one years old and killed both my parents. There's this one spell, the killing curse, and that's exactly what it does. There is no way to block it magically, if it hits you, you die instantly. It's possible dodge it though or even to block it with a physical object but that's it. It highly destructive and usually destroys whatever object you used to block it with. He used it on me, but it bounced right back at him only leaving me with this scar on my forehead. Everyone thought he was dead, but he was still alive as some kind of spirit. He regained his body last year."

"I see." Ozpin had that thoughtful look on his face again. "Moving back to more pleasant topics… from what you've told me of what you can do, it will be hard to pass your abilities off as a regular semblance, plus hunters never rely completely on their aura so that's why I had this made for you."

Ozpin placed a large cloth bundle on his desk, which he quickly whipped off with a flourish. Now laying across his desk was a medium sized sword. It looked to be large enough to wield with two hands yet small enough to take one handed if needed. The thing that drew his attention the most was the hilt. It was shaped as a golden phoenix, with its wings spread wide.

"It… it's beautiful…"

"That it is. I took the sketch you did for me at our last meeting of a phoenix to my colleague who crafted that for me. I thought it was fitting."

"It is. Please pass on my gratitude." Ozpin inclined his head.

"I thought you would be most comfortable with a sword as you said you used one before when you slayed that… basilisk, I believe you said it was called."

"Well yes, but I don't know anything about fighting with one. I think most of my success was pure luck and I knew to stick it with the pointy end." Ozpin sighed slightly at the last remark.

"You will need to get assistance from your new teammates after initiation to train with the sword. For now, I'm sure you will be able pass the tests tomorrow with your magic returned, hopefully… without… drawing too much attention to yourself."

"I will do my best."

"That's all I can ask. Now if you haven't already noticed, but there is a slot in the handle for you to place your wand. This will give it power while in place and, I believe, will allow you to use your powers to some degree through it as well, though I am not sure how well it will work."

Following his direction he picked up the sword. It was surprisingly light for its size. He had to wonder if it had anything to do with their advanced technology. The Sword of Godric Gryffindor had been highly magical but it was also ancient. Harry knew he would remember its weight in his trembling 12 year old arm, as he faced down the 1000 year old snake, for the rest of his life.

Finding the specified hole, Harry took his wand and pushed it into place until he heard a click. Suddenly it's as if the whole blade came alive. It seemed to hum in his hand the same way his new wand had and the blade seemed to have a slight glow the same colour as his Aura. He held his sword out, point extended, and wondered what he would be able to cast through it and how effective it would really be. He was just about to try levitating a chair when he was interrupted by small cough from Ozpin.

"I don't know this for sure but I have a feeling you will a bit less control of your magic through your sword than you will in wand form or at least will have it react a bit differently. I would appreciate it if you could take your testing outside of my office."

Blushing slightly, "Of course Professor."

"Thank you. The ship with new students should be arriving any moment. I would suggest heading down to meet up with the group."

"Right. That's a good idea." Harry began gathering up all his stuff and turned to leave before stopping for a moment. "Thanks again Professor. Thanks for letting me enroll here and getting all of this working for me. I don't know what I would do without my magic."

"It's my pleasure Harry. Now go meet your peers. I'll see you later."

* * *

Harry reached the front courtyard at what looked to be a few minutes after the ship had arrived. Most of the new and returning students were heading off in the direction of the auditorium. Looking around he shook his head as he noticed a boy around his age who was being violently ill into a nearby trashcan.

Suddenly a bunch of raised voices caught his attention. Locating the source he began to slowly move in that direction. There was a girl who looked to be a bit younger than him, with short dark hair with red highlights, sitting on the ground while another girl with long white hair in a pony tail stood over top of her. She seemed to be berating the girl on the ground for something. Something glinting in her hand drew his focus. Years of playing seeker allowed him to easily zero in on what the small object was. It was a vial of dust but what worried him was that the cap had come loose and as the girl gestured wildly during her rant, she was creating a small cloud of dust in the air. That's when he saw the smaller girl start to sneeze.

Fumbling for his wand, he thanked Merlin that he had taken it out of his sword and decided to keep it up his sleeve after exiting Ozpin's office. He was able to cast a protego just in time. The blast of exploding dust was contained within his shield. Once the reaction stopped, he quickly dispelled it with another wave of his wand.

Realizing what he'd done, Harry looked around in a pannick but was relieved to see that no one had noticed what he'd done. He continued on his path towards the two girls just in time to hear the older one announce, "I don't know what just happened but you're lucky that explosion didn't hit us. From how close it was it could have been really dangerous. Pay more attention in the future!" She stormed off.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked holding out his hand to assist her up.

"Ya I'm fine. Thanks. That girl was going crazy! Not really the best way to start my first day at Beacon."

"Don't worry about it I've seen her type before." From what he'd seen, the white haired girl reminded him a bit of Malfoy. Especially the air of entitlement that surrounded her, which was proven by the man in the suit that was currently rushing after her, struggling underneath all of her luggage. It would remain to be seen if she was also as cruel and bigoted as his former school nemesis. He really could do without dealing with another Malfoy.

"My names Ruby by the way."

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

"Do you want to go explore the grounds? It looks like there's a nice path over there?"

"I would, it is really nice around here, but if we don't hurry we'll be late to the opening ceremonies."

"What?! Oh no!" And before he could say anything in return she had disappeared in flash of rose petals, leaving him shocked. He got his train of thought back after realizing that he had probably just witnessed a first hand example of someone's semblance. Before she could get to far he called after her, "You're heading in the wrong direction!"

Suddenly she was back slightly out of breath. "Really? Do you know where we're going? I don't want to be late. I'm already being let into this school two years early and I don't want to mess up. I need to find my older sister Yang. She's also starting her first year here. I want to make sure I can meet up with her on time." She said all of this so fast Harry was only sure of half of what she had said.

"Don't worry. We have enough time to get there. Just follow me." They walked in companionable silence for several moments.

As expected, Ruby was the one to break it, he could already tell she was a talker. "So anyway, I've got this!" As she said this she pulled out a metal box contraption of some sort. Looking closer he vaguely thought he could see a scope and understood it must be some type of gun. She pressed a button and suddenly the whole thing expanded. Harry was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open in shock. She was holding a scythe and not just any old scythe. This thing was massive, it looked to be almost twice as tall as her. He had no idea how she could hold it upright let alone wield it to fight.

"Wow!"

"I built it myself!" She started stroking it the same way he'd seen some guys stroke their high end sports cars back home. "She's also a high impact sniper rifle."

Harry just nodded along dumbly.

"I guess I'm kind of nerd when it comes to weapons." She blushed.

"That's ok. This is amazing! I'd have no idea where to start if I was building something myself."

If possible she turned even redder at his compliment. "So… what have you got?"

"Hmmm?" He answered absentmindedly, still trying to come to terms with the wickedly sharp weapon he'd just seen up close moments before.

"What's weapon do you use."

"Oh! Right… I have this sword." He passed it over to her.

"Wow!" She gushed, stroking the golden phoenix. "The craftsmanship is amazing! What else does it do?"

He took it back from her. "Well… it's a sword?"

"I know… but what else does it do? Does it turn into a gun or…" She suddenly sounded uncertain.

"Oh ya! It has this," he said pulling out his wand clicking it into place. The whole blade hummed to life again like earlier.

"Whoah! What was that?" Harry was silently cursing. What was he thinking! He was supposed to keep his wand secret!

"Errr… that was just a… power cell… ya a power cell. It helps me to use my ma- I mean my semblance."

"Oooo! Thats cool. What's your semblance do?" Harry was really berating himself now. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

Remembering something else he'd remembered reading from the library, he latched onto the idea. "It's hard to explain but it's a bit like casting glyphs… how about you? Was that how you ran so fast earlier?" He really hoped it wasn't obvious that he was deflecting attention away from the question.

"Ya! Sorry about that earlier… I was just worried about being late."

"That's alright. This is the building right here." Entering the room they found themselves at the back of a large crowd in front of the stage

"Hey Ruby! I saved your a spot!" A voice called out of the crowd. Glancing over he was met with sight of a beautiful blonde girl waving her arm in their direction. The first thing he noticed was these large metal cuffs on her wrists that he thought must be her weapon. He was curious how they worked.

"That's my sister Yang! Sorry, I gotta go. I'll see your around!" Suddenly he was alone once again.

Deciding to stay out of the way, near the back, Harry turned to look for a place to stand. He was soon almost bowled over by someone else. Stumbling back a few steps, he managed to keep his balance. Looking down at the person he had collided with, he held out his hand to help him up. He recognized him almost immediately as the boy who had been getting sick back in the courtyard earlier.

"I'm so so sorry. That idiot back there tripped me. Hey! Are you a first year too? My names Jaune."

"Yes, this is my first year too. I'm Harry."

"Nice! I haven't really made any friends yet…. Oo… is that a sword?! I've got a sword too! I was starting to get worried, everyone around here seems to have all these crazy weapons! Did you see the girl with the scythe?"

"Thats Ruby, I met her earlier. Ya, I got a sword. Got appreciate the classics I guess…"

"The classics…"

Further conversation was cut off as the crowd quieted down. Harry soon realized why as he saw Ozpin taking the stage. "Ahem… I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Being friends with Hermione for so long had ingrained certain traits within Harry, so even as the speech was ending, he was already trying to decipher it's hidden meanings. Ozpin seemed to have that infuriating trait of saying a lot while in what appeared to be meaningless jabber.

He was so focused on his internal analysis that he almost missed Professor Goodwitch's remarks. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed!"

He followed the crowd out into a separate room full of lockers and stored his sword and most of his gear, though he ejected his wand once again, choosing to keep it on him.

As he returned to the previous room, Harry was surprised once again as he watched the students mill around. He was used to the males and females being strictly separated in their dormitories. The only time they had slept together had been that one time in the Great Hall during his third year when Sirius broke into the Gryffindor common room. He felt a pang of sadness as his thoughts drifted to his dead godfather. He couldn't believe it had only been about a month. It felt like he had been in Remnant for ages.

"Hey do you want to find a spot, they're handing out sleeping bags." Jaune broke Harry out of contemplation.

"Sure. It looks like there's a spot over their. I'll go grab the sleeping bags." Harry began walking in the direction, he'd seen others leaving from. Picking up two bags he started to head back over towards Jaune when he noticed the white haired girl, from earlier, ranting at Ruby again, but her sister seemed to have it under control. Shaking his head in exasperation he continued on his way.

Laying down, he stared at the ceiling as he listened to the noises of his fellow students quieting down. "Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Jaune."

* * *

As he'd learned to do from a young age, Harry rose early. Grabbing some of the provided breakfast, he ate, and then returned to his sleeping bag to grab the small bag of stuff he'd kept on his person. Jaune was just stirring. "Morning." He got a grumble in reply.

Entering the locker room from the night before, he stowed his bag and grabbed his sword. He debated momentarily about keeping his wand up his sleeve but remembering his conversation with Ozpin, he elected to reinsert it into the blade.

By the time her turned around to leave, most of the students had entered and were in the process of donning their gear. Apart from his weapon Harry didn't have anything else to wear. He'd noticed even Jaune had some simplistic armor, and knew it was something he'd have to look into soon.

It was with these thoughts in mind that he spotted his blonde haired acquaintance, still not dressed for the day, attempting to chat up the white haired girl, he'd temporarily dubbed as this world's female version of Malfoy. She was even literally turning her nose up in his direction. Not knowing why he always got himself into these situation, he started meandering over to rescue the other boy.

It wasn't until he got closer that he saw the other girl standing with the group. Harry's step actually faltered momentarily as he took her in. She was beautiful there was no doubt about that. With deep red hair, tied in a ponytail, yet still long enough to stretch down her back, and green eyes startlingly similar to his own. Harry had never actually met anyone with eyes close to his colour and he had to fight the urge to star in fascination. She was tall too, though that wasn't saying much compared to him. What was most striking was her attire. She was completely outfitted in armor reminiscent from that used in ancient Rome. He'd remembered seeing replicas of similar designs in a museum on a trip in Primary School.

He shook himself out of his stupor to listen in on what was being said. "Jaune is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" It was the annoying white haired girl who was talking.

"Not in the slightest Snow Angel." Harry cringed at the boys awkward come on but was slightly puzzled when the red haired girl smiled slightly at his response.

"This is Pyrrha." Harry filed that away for future reference.

"Hello again." Pyrrha waved as she was introduced.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Never heard of it." Harry was pretty sure Jaune was completely ruining any and all chances of a relationship with this girl but surprisingly Pyrrha seemed even happier.

"Ah, she's won the Mistral Regional Tournaments four years in a row… a new record!"

"The what?" Harry was ready to bash his face into the wall.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" Jaune's eyes lit up in recognition.

"That's you? They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!" Pyrrha's expression started to fall and suddenly Harry understood. It was exactly the same way people treated him when they realized they were talking to the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool, I guess, sadly the cereal isn't very good for you." Harry saw her smile return but it didn't quite reach her eyes. He knew that look well. He'd used it himself several times when he'd needed to, but most the time he'd preferred to just scowl at people who acted like that. She didn't seem the type though. Too nice.

"Wow! My sisters love you! If I can track down a box, do you think you could sign it for me so I can send it back home."

"Sure." Her smile suddenly got a bit more forced.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation." Professor Goodwitch's voice sounded over the intercom. Both Jaune and the other girl quickly gave hurried goodbyes and sped out of the room in a panic.

Pyrrha's head bowed forward and her look of sadness returned. Without thinking about what he was doing, Harry started to move closer and began to talk, "I know how it feels. It's hard when they forget that being a celebrity doesn't make you any less a human being like everybody else."

Harry cursed silently as she startled, looking up at him in shock. "Who are you?"

"Oh… right, sorry. My names Harry. Harry Potter."

"Hello Harry, I'm Pyrrha."

"So I heard a moment ago." She blushed slightly.

"How did you know what I was thinking about?"

"Oh… I'd recognize that facial expression anywhere." He tried to think of the best way to explain this. "I'm not from around here but from where I'm from I was pretty well known. I always had problems with other people wanting stuff from me for who I am or acting differently around me than they did others. Even my best friend had jealousy problems for a while because of the attention I received, even though it was all unwanted anyway. I recognized your expression because it's the same one I've seen in the mirror too many times to count." Pyrrha was still staring at him as if trying to figure out how to respond. Even Harry was confused about how she should respond to his sudden outpouring. This was the first time he'd talked to her and it was the most he'd ever shared about his feelings on that particular topic in his whole life.

They were interrupted again by a last call for initiation being announced.

"It was nice meeting you Harry. I hope we can chat again soon after initiation."

"I'd like that." This time it was Harry who blushed as he tried to figure out if their vaguely planned future conversation was considered some kind of date. Shaking that ridiculous thought out of his head, he began to sprint for the cliff, knowing he was running late.

He made it just in time, about a minute behind Pyrrha. He stepped up onto a metal plate, realizing he'd just missed the instructions. It wasn't until a few moments later that he realized that the students were being catapulted off the cliff one by one. Suddenly sweating he started fumbling for his wand but soon remembered how he'd connected it to the sword. He'd just gotten the blade detached and held in front of him as the ground beneath him heaved. Suddenly, he was flying through the air.


	4. Chapter 3: The Emerald Forest

**Chapter 3:** _ **The Emerald Forest**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Here we go. Another chapter for you. I hope you enjoy and that our first fight scenes live up to your expectations. As the story progresses, fights will get harder and hopefully I'll get better at stretching them out a bit. Also, when classes start Harry will have to work harder to hide his magic from his classmates then he does in this chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I've been blown away by the amount of people following and favoriting this story in a only a couple days. I have a feeling this will go on to be my most popular fic… so again, thank you for reading._

* * *

Harry was going to kill Ozpin. Who thought that launching teenagers off of a cliff was a good test of how to get admittance to a school? He realized he probably shouldn't complain though, some of the things he'd seen witches and wizards do back home, were pretty backwards. Putting the thought of his impending landing out of his head, Harry actually thought he might have enjoyed this, if he happened his broom with him.

Thinking about his broom and Quidditch, made him start to contemplate the different ways he'd landed in the past. Not all of them had been smooth but, the only one where he'd fallen from great height had been in third year and unfortunately he'd been already unconscious at that point. Harry remembered Hermione telling him that Dumbledore had cast _Arresto Momentum_ on him which he could recall learning in second year but, he had no idea if it could be cast on oneself.

That's when he ran into his next conundrum. Luckily, he'd managed to keep a firm hold on his sword as he sailed through the sky but, there was no way he'd be able to unclip his wand without dropping something. It was obvious he had to hurry up as the trees were starting to come dangerously close to his body. The other problems were figuring out how to point the sword at himself without being skewered and whether he would even be able to cast with it in the first place

Managing to somewhat wave it towards his body he firmly, or at least as firmly as he could while falling out the sky, intoned, "Arresto Momentum!"

At first Harry didn't think anything had happened but he felt the sword warm slightly under his grip as his velocity started to slow. He wasn't moving fast enough to kill himself now but, still enough to cause serious injury. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the tree branches soon served as an additional means of slowing down and the last minute cushioning charm cast on the ground saved him from any harm.

Dusting himself off, he looked around the small clearing and only now realized he didn't know what to do next. Ozpin had told him before that they would meet their partners for the assignment at this point of initiation but, he wasn't sure how that was supposed to take place. Before he could contemplate this further, he heard it. A low grumble reminiscent of Fluffy, the giant three headed dog, behind him, coming out of the woods. Turning around he almost wished this was round two with Fluffy because this thing didn't seem like it could be lulled to sleep with the sound of a wooden flute. The monster in question almost reminded him of a werewolf, except it was several times larger and had pitch black fur. He knew from the studying he'd done over the past few weeks that this was a Beowulf. This didn't help him much in figuring out how to take it down but he attributed the fact that he didn't freeze up to the fact that he'd faced plenty of fearsome creatures in his life.

Raising his sword as it hummed to life, the Beowulf prowled closer. He knew it would strike at him soon, and figuring that since it had worked once before with the Basilisk, he planned to let it skewer itself. Moments later, he realized that one he had learned from this experience was that this tactic did not work in every situation, as the sword had been batted right out of his hands by a swipe of its giant paw. That's how he found himself flat on his back, pinned to the ground under the weight of the massive beast glancing forlornly at his fallen blade, just out of his reach.

Harry was seriously thinking this was his end, when he heard a loud cry. Suddenly the Grimm was shifted off of him. Blinking in surprise, he sat up to see Pyrrha standing in front of him with her shield raised. He couldn't see any other weapon present. Looking over he saw the the Beowulf lumbering back to its feet. He realized Pyrrha must have bashed it with her shield. He didn't even want to think about the strength required to send the Grimm flying that far.

"I need to borrow this," he saw her looking towards his fallen sword. Before he could get a word in, she had it snagged it off the ground only to fling it away a moment later as if burned. Cradling her one hand, she just barely raised her shield in time to deflect the next hit causing her to stumble backwards.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." She dived to the side. "You need to get out of here." She ducked under another horizontal swipe. "I'll try and hold it off as long possible."

From the conversation he'd overheard earlier, Harry knew Pyrrha was skilled. Actually, it sounded like she was probably the most skilled student of their year but, even he knew she couldn't kill a Grimm of that size with just a shield. "There's no way I'm leaving you here alone with this thing!"

She turned to him in surprise, obviously unused to someone questioning her ability in a fight. It was that distraction that gave the Grimm the opening he needed. He saw it lunging at her unprotected back as if in slow motion. Stretching his hand out towards her he acted without thinking, "Accio Pyrrha!"

She was jerked off her feet, and crashing into him a moment later. The sudden drain on his magic and having the wind knocked out of him, left him in a daze, staring into her green eyes, inches away from his own. He couldn't help but marvel about how bright they were.

They were both startled out of their moment by the roar of the Grimm, enraged after missing its prey. The both of them blushing, she started to move off him. As he sat up he saw Pyrrha raise her arm and suddenly her fallen shield was zooming back towards her. Scrambling to his feet beside her, they both stared down the Grimm that was slowly circling back around.

He hurried over to where his sword had landed and picked it up, feeling it's now familiar hum. Harry wasn't sure what had happened to her weapon but, she would obviously be able to use his blade more effectively than he could. Returning to her side, he ejected his wand and offered her the hilt. "This should work for you now."

She shot him a quizzical look but accepted it nonetheless. He sighed in relief that his theory had been correct. He would have looked like either a complete idiot or an utter arse if it had still burned her. His working theory was that it had something to do with the bond between him and his wand attempting to protect itself but, he knew now was not the time to think about that.

"It might still be best if you get out of here while I have it distracted, especially now that I have your weapon."

"I only gave you half of my weapon." Harry brandished his wand. He knew he was essentially telling Ozpin to shove it, after he'd specifically asked him not to show off his magical abilities but this was life or death. This was probably what Hermione liked to call his saving people thing. There was a small, teensy, tiny chance that he, subconsciously of course, did in fact want to show off in front of Pyrrha, but he was sure it was just the saving people thing. "If you use my sword, I'll back you up from a far. I'm better with ranged attacks."

"Are you sure?" Eyeing his wand.

"I'm sure."

He was pleasantly surprised that she took him at his word, wasting no time in launching her attack. He was in awe. She moved through different stances with a practiced ease. Ducking and dodging the Grimm's attacks, while lashing out at the perfect moments to do the maximum damage. She didn't seem to need his help, which was good as he'd realized almost immediately that he couldn't safely attack himself without being at risk of hitting her.

With a final leap and large two handed strike, the Grimm's head was separated from its body. Landing gracefully like a cat, she paused to watch the monster's body disintegrate before relaxing her posture and smiling at his direction.

Of course, two more Grimm chose that moment to charge out of the woods towards Pyrrha and their fallen brethren. Not wanting her to be overwhelmed by the sudden attack, Harry pointed his wand in their direction, yelling, "Protego!"

He saw the telltale glimmer on the air as the shield was raised, which was confirmed seconds later as the two Beowulves rebounded off it with a loud bang. Shaking their heads, they turned their attention towards him.

"Petrificus Totalus!" One of the Grimm was frozen but, he wasn't sure how long it would last on something so big. The other was still charging towards him. Pyrrha was staring at him wide eyed. "Take care of the one over there! I've got this one." Turning back around he incanted, "Bombarda!"

The Grimm went sailing through the air with loud crack. It seemed his spell had shattered the mask-like bone that covered its face but, it was still alive. Once it got back to its feet, it was charging again. It seemed that the books were right, most Grimm were not intelligent and had no sense of tactics. "Diffindo!" Harry swept his wand along its midsection hoping his cutting curse would do more damage yet, he didn't expect it to completely sever the beast in two.

Looking up above it's remains, he saw Pyrrha approaching him, having already dispatched the other Grimm he'd immobilized. "Good job! Were you injured at all?"

"No, I'm good. You?" He gave her a once over but there didn't seem to be a hair out of place. It probably wasn't the best idea for his concentration.

"I'm fine as well. What you did was amazing! How exactly does your semblance work?" She looked excited but soon blushed and looked towards the ground. Harry was pretty sure it was because that could be considered a very personal question. "You don't have to answer that now if you don't want to but we'll probably have to discuss it eventually since we're partners."

"We're partners?"

"Of course! Didn't you listen to the Headmasters instructions."

"Well… after I talked to you in the locker room… I sort of arrived to the cliff late and missed what he said," Harry admitted sheepishly.

"Oh… ok. He said that we would be partners with the first person we make eye-contact with… which we did. Later we'll be matched up with another pair to form a team for our four years here at Beacon."

Thinking back to that moment Harry'd got an up close look at her eyes, he couldn't help but think, 'Oh did we ever.'

"For all four years?" Harry was surprised but very pleased.

"I hope that's not a problem." Harry could detect the hurt in her tone immediately.

"No! Of course not. Sorry I was just surprised! I knew we would have partners for this task but I didn't know it was for our whole time here. Why wouldn't I want to be your partner? I have to admit that I didn't know who you were before, but even without that white haired girl listing out all your accomplishments, I would have been able to tell from just a few minutes ago how skilled you are. Plus, you seem nice… I think we'll get along just fine. What do you say… partner?"

Pyrrha smiled and her eyes were shining again, he idly noticed. "That sounds acceptable… partner." She continued on with a bit more hesitance, "And your semblance."

Harry sighed. "It's complicated." Now that he knew they would be partners for so many years, he knew he would have to explain his situation to her at the very least, if not his whole team, so seeing her downtrodden look he continued, "Really it's complicated. I'll tell you but we don't have time now for me to explain it. It'll have to be later." Thankfully she seemed to accept that.

"Your sword has a good balance." She tried to pass it back to him.

"Keep it for now. You know what your doing. I'm better with what I have. What happened to your weapon?"

"You know that blond boy from earlier? He didn't seem to have a landing strategy and was just flailing about in the air. I didn't want him to die, even if he started bugging me for an autograph at the end there, so I used Milo to spear his shirt to a tree and break his fall."

She looked slightly guilty at her solution but Harry couldn't contain his laugh, "You speared Jaune to a tree to break his fall? That's too good!"

"Wait! You know him?"

"He ran into me yesterday… quite literally. I helped him up and he struck up a conversation. Other than that I don't know him."

"We should probably let him down before we continue on our journey."

"Lead on and I'll follow."

* * *

Harry stayed several feet behind Pyrrha as they approached the tree where Jaune was supposed to be, so he could keep his eye out for Grimm. Scanning the trees around him he heard Jaune's jubilant cry of, "Pyrrha!"

"Hello Jaune."

"Thank you so much for saving me! I think I might have been a pancake right now otherwise."

"It was no problem Jaune. I'm sorry had use such methods. Let me get you down from there."

"Does this mean we're partners now?" Harry felt a strange tightening in his gut at this seemingly innocent question but he hurriedly stepped out of the shadows anyway.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jaune. I'm already partnered with Harry here." She motioned in his direction.

"Hey buddy!" Harry called up to the blonde.

"Oh… hey Harry." Harry couldn't help but feel twinge of guilt at his dismayed expression.

"If you still have your eyes set on that other girl you were talking to earlier, you might still be able to find her if she doesn't have a partner." Harry was happy to see his plan work, as Jaune's eyes lit up.

"That's a great idea! I'll go find Weiss!" Harry filed that name away for future reference. "Well… after I get down from here."

"Sorry!" Pyrrha waved her hand again like earlier as her weapon was yanked out of the tree and, flew to her hand. Harry waved his wand just in time to slow Jaune's fall and set him on his feet gently.

"Wow! How'd you do that?" Harry wanted to bash his own head up against a tree. He was now certain that he will have used his magic in front of all of the students by the end of this stupid test. It was just so instinctive that he didn't even think about it most of the time.

"Err… you know… tricks of the trade." To his relief, Jaune seemed to buy it.

"Still, that pretty cool. You'll have to show me more sometime. Anyway, I gotta go find Weiss! See you guys later." And he was off tromping through the bush.

"Do you think he'll be ok on his own?" Pyrrha looked slightly concerned.

"I'm sure he'll be fine! He got into this school didn't he?" Pyrrha nodded at his conclusion but as he said it, he couldn't help but wonder who was trying to convince. "So where to next?"

"Well, Professor Ozpin said we have to head north to a forest temple. There we have to collect some kind of relic and then climb the cliff to finish.

"Sounds easy enough." Realizing there was no point in hiding any of his abilities from her now, he set his wand in the palm of his hand. "Point me." The wand spun around like a compass needle, finally coming to a rest in the desired direction. "We need to go that way."

He glanced over at his partner to see her shaking her head in exasperation, a small smile gracing her lips. Passing back his sword, that he then attached to his hip, she copied his earlier words, "Lead on."

* * *

Luckily for them, they didn't have to fight any more Grimm on the rest of their trek. They did come across a cave at one point though. Harry wasn't sure if it was considered the temple, especially with the strange old carvings near it's entrance, or if they just had to pass through it to reach their destination. Instead of going in blind, Harry decided to shine one of his overpowered Lumos, search light powered, spells into the mouth of the cave. He was very glad that he did, when they locked eyes with a huge Death Stalker that came scurrying towards them. After some quick thinking on his part, and two jabs of his wand later, the cave entrance had collapsed. One more flourish and he'd transfigured the loose rubble into a single slab of heavy stone. They'd decided to go around the small mountain after that.

Therefore it was a considerably more relaxed Pyrrha and Harry that finally laid eyes on the forest temple. "I think that's it."

"I agree. It appears a few of our comrades have already arrived."

Approaching the large stone structure, Harry immediately recognized one of the students already there as Ruby's older sister Yang and another girl with black hair. Entering the ruins, he noticed pillars scattered about, all but one carrying a random chess piece.

"I think these are the artifacts we need. Which one do you want to take?"

"I don't know. I think there might be a significance to the piece we take. It might have something to do with how we get chosen for teams. Did you notice that there are two of every style of piece?"

"I didn't but, I do now that you pointed it out." Harry thought over this carefully, he was used to Hermione making these kind of choices in the past but, it seemed that in this situation it was mostly up to luck. "We might as well just choose a random one. Only one relic has been taken so far, so there's no strategic value to being picky unless you want to wait for more people to show?"

"No, I think it's best for us to finish the initiation as soon as possible… if you agree?"

"Of course. I'd love to get out of here, hopefully without any more fighting." Glancing around quickly once again. "How about this one?" He snatched up the white Rook piece, only knowing its name after playing countless games against Ron over the years.

"Sure."

Both were startled to hear a loud cry coming from the entrance of the ruins. Rushing out, Harry was confused to see Ruby scrambling off the ground into a standing position. Yang's new partner spoke, "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"

Yang started to respond, "I-," but was cut off as one of the other students, a short redheaded girl, came riding in on a massive Ursa before it slumped to the ground dead.

"Did we just see that?" He asked looking to Pyrrha. She seemed as shocked as he felt.

Suddenly, Harry noticed Ruby was pointedly wildly at the sky about something, "Oh my god! Weiss! She didn't jump."

Looking upwards he spotted a giant Nevermore clutching the white haired girl, Weiss, who moments later was now falling through the sky. Sighing, he wasn't sure why he was relegated to saving people from crashing into the ground during this whole mission but, he once again flicked his wand a couple times, more subtly than before of course.

The screams of horror from his soon to be classmates all cut off quite dramatically when the girl bounced off the ground like a trampoline, from his overpowered cushioning charm, rather than becoming a splattered mess. They all just sat there staring, trying to figure out what happened, while Harry held back. He noticed Pyrrha watching him, an eyebrow raised in question. He just shrugged in response.

Clicking his wand into his sword, he raised it pointing towards the sky, "That thing is coming back!" Successfully distracting them, they all began clamoring for their weapons. "Anyone have any ideas on how to ground it? We won't be able to kill it while it's flying around."

"I'm on it! Ren! Give me a boost!" The small redhead that had ridden in on the Ursa called to her partner. He seemed to be gathering aura as she jumped into his cupped hands.

"No! Wait! It's too dangerous. We need to make a-" She was off, already rocketing upwards, his last word falling on deaf ears. "...plan."

The girl, Nora he believed he had heard her being called, was now firing her gun at the ground, giving her further lift. As she reached the apex of her arc, which was higher than the Grimm she was attacking, her gun started to lengthen into the form of a giant hammer. Realizing what she was going to do, he started running towards where he thought the giant bird would land.

He heard the resulting smack, almost like a clap of thunder, as the hammer collided with the Grimm and they both tumbled towards the ground. To his relief, this girl seemed to have her own landing strategy and he was able to focus on the growing shadow on the ground before him.

A quick wave of his hand cast the impervious charm on his glasses. Even though he knew it would cost him, he was immediately glad that he did as he was hit by the giant dust cloud that the Nevermore kicked up. As soon as it began to settle, Harry charged forward, raising his sword with a cry of "Incendio!" Just like he'd pictured in his mind, his blade was wreathed in thick, roiling flames. He almost dropped it because of the heat. He put all his weight behind his downward strike but, he was still surprised at the ease of which it cut through the bone mask protecting its head. It had hit true, and was sunk to the hilt between the Grimm's eyes.

As it began to disintegrate around his blade, he cancelled the fire with a "Finite." It was only then that the exhaustion hit him. Harry knew he'd obviously pumped too much energy into the spell, and all the others he'd cast today. He'd need to work on his control soon. Fighting to stay conscious, the amount of weight he rested on his sword steadily increased. Fortunately, Pyrrha arrived a moment later, helping to hold him upwards.

"That was an incredibly foolish thing to do," her stern expression swarm into his range of vision.

"I know." His voice sounded slightly slurred. "But it worked."

"Yes. It did." She rolled her eyes.

"I think I'm going to have a short nap now."

The last thing he heard before he completely lost consciousness was Ruby's excited voice, 'That was so cool!"

* * *

 _ **Next time on The Wizard and the Grimm...**_

 _Harry and Pyrrha have their talk and explanations are given, we find out about teams, and classes are started._


	5. Chapter 4: Forming Bonds

**Chapter 4:** _ **Forming Bonds**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _First, I just wanted to thank everyone for the response I've gotten to this story. I already have over 150 followers in less than a week which is a new record for me. I have a feeling this will be my most popular story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. If anyone is concerned about Harry passing out last chapter, I wanted to point out that he did wandless magic twice in the forest, which I already established is very taxing on his magic, then on top of the regular spells he cast, including a major transfiguration, he cast through his sword blade for the first time, and pushed way too much power into it. He will get stronger over time and learn to be more efficient in his energy usage. I can't make him perfect right away. Also, the fact that he made a mistake when first using the sword against the Beowolf, is because he doesn't know how to use a sword, the Grimm charged at him before he had time to figure out a plan, so he was going to try and stab it. Anyway, I hope that clears things up. Please leave me a review to let me know all your thoughts. Enjoy!_

 _ **EDIT 1:** Also, I really really struggled with the team name in this, if anyone has any better ideas please leave them in the comments and if I see one I like I might go back and edit this chapter to change it._

 _ **EDIT 2:** Special thanks to **Fenerath** for helping me come up with a good team name! The one you posted in the reviews is a lot better than my original one._

* * *

"Blake Belladona, Ruby Rose, Weiss Shnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by Ruby Rose." Harry clapped along with the rest of the auditorium as Professor Ozpin made his announcement. He tried to hide his chuckle as he saw Ruby attempting to escape her older sister's smothering hug.

Harry had awoken only a few minutes after initially passing out, when his partner had given his aura a jolt. He had still felt pretty tired but at least he had been able to stay awake. As they walked back to Beacon, his magic had started to recover helping him feel even better. He wasn't back at full strength by any means, but he was no longer in need of immediate sleep either.

"Now, we have Harry Potter, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Vaklyrie. You all collected the white Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team HPRN or Team Hyperion. Led by Harry Potter." Harry wasn't surprised that he was chosen by leader. He figured it would be either him or Pyrrha. Not that he thought himself better than his new teammates, he was just used to being shoved into this kind of position. He knew he probably would have been a lot more reluctant before having to lead the DA the year before. He didn't think this would be that different.

As he mulled this over and was congratulated by his new team, Harry couldn't help but notice that someone was missing. "Pyrrha, I didn't hear Jaune get announced on any of the teams. I don't even see him in here."

"Really?" Taking a look around herself. "You don't think something happened to him, do you?"

"I don't know. Why don't we ask Ozpin... " It was only then that he realized that their headmaster had disappeared sometime in the past few seconds. "Or Professor Goodwitch is over there. Let's ask her."

After a quick word to Ren and Nora, they rushed over towards the Blond teacher and were met with a single raised eyebrow. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Nikos, how may I help you?"

"Hi Professor, I just wanted to ask about one of the other initiates Jaune. Jaune Arc. We saw him go off on his own into the forest but haven't seen him since and he wasn't here for team selections…"

"I'm sorry but I cannot discuss personal details of other students-"

"I know. I know. It's just that we were worried about him and wanted to make sure he was ok."

Her gaze softened a little but she still looked conflicted but, a moment under both their gazes broke her resolve. She gave a small sigh, "Mr. Arc ran into a pack of Beowolves in the forest. He sustained some minor injuries but we were required to intervene so that he did not lose his life. The rules, state that without completing initiation, he cannot attend Beacon. Fortunately, the Headmaster was able to speak an old friend and get him a spot at the Atlas Academy. You should be seeing him soon enough as the Vytal Tournament approaches."

"Thank you Ma'am." Pyrrha interjected. The Deputy Headmistress inclined her head.

"Now, the two of you should proceed to your new dormitories with your team. Chop chop."

* * *

"So… you travelled here from another world where magic exists and you're a wizard? A wizard as in the type of wizards I heard about in fairy tales my mother read to me as a child?" Harry winced at Pyrrha's blunt summary of what he'd just told her. Back home it was hard enough to convince someone that magic was real but here, where people already did amazing things with their aura everyday, it would probably be even harder to convince her he was telling the truth.

After discovering their room with their new teammates and getting the basics set up, Harry had noticed Pyrrha's intense look following him around the room, and had eventually acquiesced to her unspoken demands. That's how he found himself sitting on the roof beside his partner, legs hanging over the edge, having just explained how he'd gotten to Remnant. He'd always been a fairly private person and had found even confiding in his friends difficult at times, so he was fairly surprised Pyrrha had gotten his trust so quickly. There was just something about her, he could tell beyond a doubt that she was a good person and more than anyone else he'd met before, was able to understand how he'd always felt as the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Err… yes." Even after a moment of thought, Harry wasn't sure he should have responded to her comment. He'd been expecting more questions.

"Ok."

"OK?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes." she answered simply.

"You believe me just like that? Don't get me wrong, that's what I wanted but I thought I'd have to work harder to convince you I wasn't lying... or crazy."

"Trust me, your story does sound pretty crazy. Travelling between universes… sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but I trust you. I've always been sensitive to others auras, as I grew up, I learned to control this power and as I did I realized I've almost always been able to tell when someone is lying to me. Apart from that, I don't know how else to describe what I saw you do today. During the years I've spent fighting in tournaments, I've seen plenty of unique semblances. Some of them could probably replicate some of what I saw you do but, I've never seen someone able to do all of it. If what you did was a semblance, you shouldn't have been able to accomplish the range of things you did. So because of all of this, I believe you."

Harry didn't know what to say to that so he just responded with a simple, "Thank you."

Pyrrha gave his hand a quick squeeze as their conversation lulled into silence. He was content, gazing upwards at the twinkling stars, as he was able to recognize some of the constellations, giving him an unexpected sense of comfort. The stars were one thing that had always seemed unchangeable to him, no matter what was going on his life. It had been in one of his astronomy lessons, that he'd first had this thought. No matter what happened, even if Voldemort won, at least the stars would stay the same. It gave him strength knowing that there were some things out there that were out of that madman's reach. Now, even universes away, the stars remained the same, as if a reminder for him to keep his resolve.

"Do you miss them?"

"Hmm?" Harry tried to shake himself out of his contemplation as he heard Pyrrha's question.

"Your friends back home… do you miss them?" Harry froze. He'd spoken at length to Ozpin about his home, and even briefly to Professor Goodwitch after the headmaster informed her of his circumstances, but neither of them had asked him about his friends. He'd been subconsciously avoiding the fact that he would never see them again but her question forced the issue directly to the forefront of his mind.

"Y-y-ya… I do," he choked out, past the lump suddenly lodged in his throat. Pyrrha's hand was suddenly back in his own, offering him comfort as he fought to control his erratic breathing.

After a moment she continued on, "What are their names?"

For a moment, he didn't think he would be able to answer, but as their faces swam in front of him, he realized he'd have to talk to someone about this eventually, and it might as well be his partner. "My two closest friends were Ron and Hermione. I met them both on the train to Hogwarts but only became friends with Ron at first." Harry paused for a moment but then continued in an even quieter tone, "Ron was actually my first friend ever. Growing up, my cousin and his friends formed this sort of gang. Everyone our age knew them as bullies and were scared of them. They used to scare off anyone who was nice to me… anyway when Ron wanted to be my friend I was ecstatic. He wasn't always the best friend. He went through a whole jealous faze about two years ago and we both said some pretty nasty things to each other. We eventually made up, and he was always there when it mattered the most. I wouldn't trade his friendship for anything."

"I have to say, I think I understand what you are saying to an extent. When I was young, I never got on well with other children my age, and ended up spending most of my time with my mother and eventually my younger sister. I was always close to my mother… that's why when I was eventually discovered and offered the chance to be trained for the tournament circuit, my mother's disapproval nearly crushed me. I was determined though, since I'd finally found something I was good at, I was going to pursue it. I have never regretted the training I received or how it set me on my path to become a hunter, but the rift it caused between my family and I haunts me everyday. To most this would sound strange but, I know you will understand after telling me about this Boy-Who-Lived craziness, but I could also do without the fame."

"Here! Here!" They lapsed back into silence for a moment. "So you said your relationship with your family is strained… but, do you still speak with your mother?"

"Occasionally. It's always awkward. Things have been especially tense since a very public encounter where she voiced her displeasure at my plans to become a huntress."

"I'm sorry." She just shrugged in response.

"So… what of this other friend you spoke of? Hermione was it?"

"Yes. Like I said, I met her on the first train ride as well. Her and Ron didn't exactly hit it off at first, and not wanting to lose my new friend, I didn't interact with her much. She seemed nice enough, if not a little bossy and nosey. It wasn't until two months later, when Ron and I rescued her from a troll, that had gotten into the school, that the three of us became friends. Other than a few small arguments over the years, the three of us have been… or… I guess… were… inseparable."

"Wait! Trolls are real as well?"

Distracted from his momentary dip in mood Harry answered, "Of course! Dragons and unicorns as well!" At Pyrrha's wide eyed look he chuckled. "I'm guessing a lot of the fairytale animals you heard of growing up are real, at least in my world."

"Wow! It sounds nice though. I can't imagine a world without the threat of Grimm."

"There may be no Grimm but don't kid yourself, there's plenty wrong with my world. Anyway, as I was saying before, apart from Ron and Hermione I didn't have many I would consider true friends. As the war heated up last year, Hermione, who is probably the smartest person I've ever known, convinced me to start a secret club to train students to defend themselves. Some of those students I taught, namely Neville, Luna, and Ginny, went on to risk their lives with me, just before I was sent here to Remnant. I regret not having gotten to know them better before last year. Neville was my dorm mate for five years but I always underestimated him, but it was only last year I saw his true potential. He had bravery and loyalty in spades, even if he didn't know it himself. I'd never met Luna before last year, and like Neville, many underestimated her. She's one of the few that I would say could give Hermione a run for their money in intelligence. Ginny is Ron's younger sister. I think I overlooked her the most up until this year. She's strong, both as a witch and in her personality. She came out of a year of being possessed by an evil spirit at the age of eleven all the stronger for it. I can only imagine that growing up with six older brothers is what gave her that willfulness."

"Six brothers!? That's a lot of siblings!"

"It is, the Weasleys are a very large family. When I first met her, she had a huge crush on the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and could barely speak in my presence. I think that's why I didn't notice her really until she finally got over that and, acted herself around me. In retrospect, after getting to know her last year, I think she's someone I could have seen myself falling for, but I'll never know. She'll be fine though, she's been having boys after her nonstop for the past year, much to Ron's displeasure."

Glancing over at his partner in the light of the shattered moon he caught an odd expression on her face but, it was gone so quickly he wasn't sure if he'd imagined it or not.

"It sounds like, in the end, you did have some pretty good friends. I have some big shoes to fill." Suddenly Pyrrha froze. "That is if we're friends. I know as partners we're pretty much forced to spend time together but that doesn't mean I have to be your friend..."

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha!" Harry interrupted her. It was the first time he'd heard her ramble. "Of course we're friends! I think it would be pretty hard not to be after our fights today, let alone what we just shared with each other. I don't think I even told Ron and Hermione about what Dudley's gang did when I was a child."

"I'm glad." Pyrrha's answering smile was nearly blinding.

"So, what do you say partner? It's getting late, we should probably get back to our dorm. Wouldn't be good to be caught out after curfew on our first night. Ren and Nora probably think we're out snogging somewhere for the amount of time we've been gone."

"Snogging?" Pyrrha asked confused.

Blushing at having to explain what he'd meant Harry continued, "Umm… I guess… you might call it… making out?"

"Oh... " the colour of her face soon matched his own.

Standing, Harry offered her his hand to help her up, "Here."

"Thanks." The two teenagers reentered the building, neither realizing they hands were still clasped together.

* * *

"So, Mr. Potter has told Ms. Nikos about his past."

"It appears so."

"I'm surprised everyone doesn't know about him after his flamboyant display of his powers earlier today." Ozpin just hummed noncommittally. "Are you not at all concerned? Didn't you tell him just this morning to keep it under wraps?"

"I've always known he would have to tell his partner, and most likely his whole team. Its crucial to the bond of trust formed between every team. I also knew that he would most likely have to use his powers during initiation in less than subtle ways. That's why I told him what I did this morning. Imagine how bad it would have been if I hadn't said anything?"

Glynda Goodwitch blanched at that thought, "But his powers are sure to draw attention! What will we do then?"

"I am hoping that by that point, he will have been trained enough to deal with that situation on his own. Though, I will of course, give him any aid that I can."

"It's just… seeing some of the things he can do… it scares me. He's dangerous!"

"Aren't we all? Give anyone a gun, a knife, or a sword and they are now dangerous. Why do you think I invited him to Beacon? I will admit his powers will be a formidable asset to the fight against the Grimm but it also gives me the ability to keep my eye on him. From what I have seen though, I do not think we will have to worry. He seems to have a good heart."

"I hope you're right Ozpin… for all our sakes."

* * *

The wizard, looking decades older than he should, sat hunched over the kitchen table of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place nursing a bottle. He perked up, for the first time in hours, at the sound of an approaching rhythmic clunking. The door burst open with a clang making Remus Lupin jump. Looking up he met the unnerving gaze of Mad Eye Moody. His regular eye fixed on Remus, the other spinning wildly about the room.

"Remus." He gave a stiff nod.

"Alastor. What are you doing here?"

"Order meeting. Didn't you here? Isn't that why you're here?"

Lupin ignored his questions, "What's the point anymore? Sirius and Harry are dead. You heard about the prophecy! Merlin! Everyone's heard about the damned prophecy now. Harry was the only one who could kill him, there's nothing we can do."

"Why don't you grow a pair Remus! I get the whole world's going to shit! I've seen it happen countless times in my life. Half the orders left, and the publics in a panic. That doesn't mean you just give up. Myself, I don't believe in the words of an old quack like Trelawney, I say we soldier on!"

Before Remus could retort, the door opened once again to show in Nymphadora Tonks, Minerva McGonagall, and Albus Dumbledore. They all looked as exhausted as he felt but what was the most shocking was instead of it's usual bubble gum pink, Tonks' hair was a limp mousy brown. He felt a twinge of guilt for not going and speaking to her sooner. She'd hit it off with Harry and gotten to know him the past summer pretty well, and Sirius had been her cousin after all.

"Welcome everyone! I know we have not met in recent weeks but I have been busy following up on a lead I uncovered. I am happy to announce that I have some good news. Harry is alive!" Albus spoke with a cheer that Remus couldn't fathom how he managed, at least until he processed what he said that is.

He shot to his feet, gripping the table as he started to sway. He'd never been much of a drinker and it had become apparent over the past few weeks, through the many times he'd passed out in this very kitchen, that he did not have a high tolerance for alcohol.

"What! What are you talking about? We both saw him and Sirius go through that damned veil!"

"Yes we did, and they did. Unfortunately there's never been much known about it so how it works has always been a mystery. After James and Lily were murdured, I placed many enchantments on Harry to monitor him. After passing through the veil, most ceased to work immediately but, there was one that didn't. It was the first I created during the ritual to form the blood wards around his relatives house. All it did was inform me if he was alive or not. It continues to work and is informing that he is, in fact, alive."

"I thought the blood wards around the muggles' house had fallen? Didn't you say that would only happen when he turned of age, or was deceased?" Moody growled.

"Yes, I did but, there was one other way they would fall. The magic would not be able to survive if Harry no longer considered his Aunt's house, his home. This leads me into my theory, that I have been researching these past weeks. I believe Harry has found himself on another world, or rather alternate universe."

"Can we get him back?" Remus blurted out.

Albus gave him a patient smile, "As of now, not yet. Though, I am confident, with some time, I will be able to devise a way for us to either pull him back or for us to travel there and bring him back with us."

"What about Granger and Weasley? Have you told them yet?" Moody asked.

"No I-"

"Don't you think it would be a good idea? They've both been pretty torn up about it, moping around the house all summer. Plus you and Minerva are always going on and on about Granger being the smartest witch of her age. Couldn't she help you with your research? With the chance to get the boy back, she probably won't rest until she finds an answer."

The ancient headmaster sighed, "That's what I'm worried about."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just a quick note, since I'm about to start two university math summer programs, I probably won't be updating much until I'm done at the end of June. So don't worry this story will not be abandoned, I just am going to be very busy for the next six weeks._


	6. Chapter 5: The Art of Swordplay

**Chapter 5:** _ **The Art of Swordplay**_

 _ **A/N:**_ _Despite what I said in my last update_

* * *

 _I've been luckily able to get done another chapter. This should be one of the last chapters that seems to be following canon. Events are going to start diverging very soon as Harry's powers start to make a larger difference in coming events. I hope you enjoy. As always please leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing. There seems to be something wrong with the website lately, causing my new reviews not to show up but, not to worry, I am still receiving them in my email. I also wanted to thank everyone because this story now has over 200 follows and over 150 favorites! Thank you so much everyone!_

 _ **Note:** Just noticed I didn't proof read this chapter very well. Will go back and do that when I have a chance in the next few days._

* * *

"Harry Potter vs. Cardin Winchester!" Professor Goodwitch's voice rang throughout the classroom. This was their first combat class, after a long first week of studying Grimm theory. Normally, theoretical lessons like that back at Hogwarts had a tendency to bore Harry, and the ones here at Beacon were no exception. He'd worked harder than usual to make sure to pay attention as he knew he was already behind all his classmates in knowledge, having not grown up in Remnant.

Earlier in the week, Harry had approached Pyrrha looking for ideas about hiding his magic. Being realistic he was certain he would have to use it in front of their classmates and he had no idea how he was going to pull it off. It had worked in the Emerald Forest when everyone was distracted by the Grimm but he knew when they were in the classroom setting, there would be no such distractions.

Her advice had been to make sure it looked like a normal semblance. It didn't really matter if it came off as powerful, he just had to make sure he gave no one reason to think something else was going on. That meant only casting through his sword or wandlessly if he could manage it. He'd spent time every night in their room, before bed, trying out spells with his sword to limited success. It was just too big and bulky to wave around.

The only real progress he'd made at first, had been starting to gain control over how much magic he put into any one spell. He was happy with this at least, because it meant he wasn't likely to go passing out randomly. He quickly learned that his initial thought, that he'd pumped too much magic into his flame when taking down the Nevermore, was a huge understatement. In the heat of the moment he'd literally put everything he'd had into the spell! At least it explained how he'd cut through the Grimm's mask so easily, something that had been bothering Pyrrha for days. After he'd told her his realization he'd had to stifle his laugh at the look on her face as she tried to calculate the amount of heat he must have created pulling that off.

It had actually been Pyrrha that had come up with the idea that helped him out the most the day before, despite her lack of knowledge of all things magical. She had been watching him experiment throughout the week and had eventually suggested that he focus on using his spells to help augment his use of the sword, like he'd done with the fire, instead of trying to use his sword as he would his wand. Giving it a try, he'd noticed the difference right away. He had not mastered it by any means but, he felt a lot more comfortable using his sword to fight. He needed some more practical experience, trying it out against an opponent, which he was just about to do.

Standing up from his seat, he walked past his teammates and headed towards the ring. "Good luck Harry!" Nora's shout of encouragement followed him down the stairs.

After getting to know all his teammates a bit better, Harry had been pretty sure that, if anyone, it would be Ren who noticed something about his magic. To his surprise, when he'd started experimenting, the quiet boy had left him to his own devices. It had been Nora who had sat their watching him with an uncharacteristically intense look on her face. He was pretty sure she knew something odd was up but she never said anything, so it could have been his own imagination.

Reaching his destination, he looked up and met the gaze of his sneering opponent. It didn't faze him though, five years of enduring hell on earth in Snape's class had left him pretty much immune to that facial expression. He did note how Cardin seemed to tower over him, and the size of his mace. He did not want to be on the receiving end of that.

"This will be a tournament style fight. The bout will continue until one participant has either yielded, been forced out of the designated area, or their aura has dropped into the red zone. Anyone who continues to attack after this will have to deal with severe consequences." Harry raised his blade as their instructor spoke. "Any questions? No? Good. We will begin in three, two, one, go!"

Cardin launched himself towards Harry the moment the match started, mace already swinging towards the side of his head. Not wanting to make the same mistake he made with the Grimm in the forest, He tried to block, angling his sword in what he thought was the appropriate angle. On one hand it did stop the mace but, on the other, he had seriously miscalculated how much strength it would require. Harry went flying backwards through the air, losing grip on his sword, that went clattering away.

Staggering to his feet, Harry caught the tail end of Goodwitch giving Cardin a strict warning. It seemed his headshot had been barely legal within tournament rules. The boy, now flush with embarrassment started to stride purposely towards Harry, winding back the mace for another swing. Tracking it with his emerald eyes, Harry had a sudden senses of deja vu, leading back to all the Quidditch practices where Oliver Wood had made them try avoiding bludgers on the ground, his theory being it would help them immensely later, where it was easier, in the air.

He let himself shift into a relaxed stance he'd perfected over those cruel mornings in third year, keeping his eyes still fixed on the end of the mace as if it were in incoming bludger, he dove aside at the last moment. He tucked into a roll in the direction of his sword, and came back up reaching towards it. The problem was that he came up short. His arm was overextended and he had to fight to keep his balance in his weird half crouch.

Glancing back over his shoulder he saw the bigger boy had already begun charging in his direction once again. The fact that he seemed to rely on little else other than brute strength was of little consolation to Harry as began silently cursing his predicament. He needed his sword back. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt the hilt slam into his hand. He only had a half second to wonder at his unintentional wandless magic before once again diving to the side, just barely avoiding being hit.

It was obvious to even Harry that a skilled swordsman like Pyrrha would easily be able to get inside Cardin's guard and finish him off. Said boy was looking a little winded, and had paused to catch his breath as he eyed Harry with a snarl. Harry knew he was fast but was nowhere near proficient enough with a blade to attempt that kind of strategy. He'd have to rely on sort of trickery with his magic to pull off a win.

An idea started to form in his head just as Cardin started to build up to his signature charge. He was comically reminded of a bull charging a red cape. When he had covered roughly half the distance between them Harry slammed his sword, point down, into the ground and called, "Glacius!"

Thick ice began to spread rapidly in a circle from his blade, covering the ground. Harry could tell the moment Cardin realized what he had done, from the expression on his face. Harry scurried out of the way as his larger opponent flailed his arms wildly, seeking control over his footing.

"Ventus," was muttered just loud enough for himself to hear as his sword was suddenly sheathed in a miniature cyclone of winds. Pointing the tip towards Cardin's back, he released his hold on the spell freeing the raging wind. The other boy was pushed onto his front as he shot out of the arena, causing a large buzzer to sound.

"Halt!" The Deputy Headmistresses voice rang out once again. "Winner… Harry Potter."

"Oh come on! My aura is still at full! How is this a win for him!" Cardin who had just gotten back on his feet jabbed his finger in Harry's direction.

"As I stated earlier, we are using normal tournament rules during class. Mr. Potter forced you out of the designated fighting area."

"That's bullshit! We're here to become hunters not train for a tournament. You won't kill Grimm by pushing them around!"

"Language Mr. Winchester! I think I'll see you in detention this weekend." Professor Goodwitch's eyes flashed dangerously. She seemed to be just as fierce at disciplining her students as Professor McGonagall had been. "As to your comments about the match, I have to say they simply aren't true. As a hunter, you will be required to field missions and battle Grimm in all manner of environments. You might find yourself in a battle on top of a cliff, where forcing your enemy off the edge might prove less dangerous than combating them directly. That's why those rules are in place. It also gives you training on holding your ground so you are not ever on the receiving end of such tactics. Now Mr. Potter, it was smart of you to use your environment in such a way. Continuing to think like that in all encounters going forward will be beneficial in your future. Apart from that, your swordwork was sloppy, I would suggest putting some more time in that area of your training as you seem to have a good hold on your… semblance. That's all for now! Class dismissed."

Harry trudged back over towards his team, feeling a little tired as his adrenalin rush faded. He was not even close to as bad as he had been the week before but, he knew he could still use some work on not overcharging his spells. He found it took more concentration when using his sword than just his wand.

"Well done Captain!" Nora screeched skipping over towards him. Harry was still getting used to his excitable teammate. He wasn't sure he'd met anyone with quite as much… energy as her. She'd probably give the Weasley twins a run for their money with her sense of mischief. He didn't envy Ren at all who seemed to be her unofficial minder.

Speaking of his green clothed teammate, "Yes, well done Harry." He offered a small supportive smile.

"It was so cool! It was like you were using glyphs like Weiss from team RWBY but, it was strange, I couldn't see them."

"Ya... sort of like that," Harry answered quickly hoping his nervousness wasn't betrayed in his voice. He did know what she was talking about though. Harry had seen Weiss fight the Boarbatusk earlier in the week. Glyphs seemed to be the closest aura manipulation and dust came to magic here on Remnant. It was a powerful ability but Harry could tell it didn't have the range of uses his magic did.

To his relief, Pyrrha seemed to see the direction the conversation was turning and quickly jumped in, "Yes, you did a good job Harry. I'm getting hungry, why don't we all go grab some lunch." Harry had learned quickly over the past week, much like Ron, if there was one way to distract Nora quickly, it was with food.

"Yes! I'm starving!" She drew out the last word for several seconds. "Ren! Do you think they'll have pancakes? I could really go for some pancakes."

As the pair started to head for the cafeteria, chattering happily, Pyrrha grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. He looked at her quizzically but she seemed to be mulling over whatever she needed to say. She came to a decision a minute later when she bluntly asked, "You don't know how to use a sword… do you?"

Harry's shoulders slumped forward a bit at her question, "No. Not really. There wasn't really a need for it when I could use my wand."

"I see. Meet me in the training room this afternoon, I'll help you."

"What? You don't have to do that… I don't want to be a burden."

"Hary. You are not a burden!" Her voice was serious. "Plus, I can't have my partner not being up to standard."

The guilt hit Harry like a ton of bricks the moment she said that and he raised his head to apologize when he saw the twinkle in her eyes. That's when he realized that she was teasing him. Pyrrha Nikos was teasing him. He'd yet to see her joke around at all.

He gave her a smile, "I don't know about that. I think it might be the other way around. Didn't I have to save your butt from that Beowulf during initiation?"

"Only after I saved you from it initially," she attempted to scoff. It didn't quite sound natural coming from her lips and they both had to fight down their laughter.

"Well excuse me but, I don't think that changes the fact that I still had pull you out of it's way later. Plus, wasn't I the one that brought down that Nevermore?"

"Actually, I think that was Nora, though I guess you got in a single hit." She gave him a playful shove on the shoulder, though, with her considerable strength, it only managed to send him staggering towards the wall.

"Hey!" He shot her a mock glare. "I'll have you know that single hit was the killing blow."

She just shook her head in exasperation, "Come on Harry, let's go get lunch."

* * *

"So, have you ever used a sword before arriving on Remnant?"

"I did once, when I was twelve."

"What type was it?"

"Errr… magic?"

Pyrrha sighed, "No I mean what time of blade? Was it a greatsword? Probably not if you were only twelve… was it a katana? Something similar to what you are using now?"

"Well… I guess it was similar to what I'm using now, though I think it was a little smaller."

"A one handed sword then. In what context were you using it? Was it some kind of tournament? Did you get any basic lessons?"

"Uhh no… I kinda pulled it out of a magical sentient hat and used it to stab a thousand year-old, seventy foot long, giant magical snake through the roof of it's mouth."

Pyrrha just stared at him blankly for a few moments, not even blinking, "Ok then… no training at all."

"No, not really. And the stab didn't even work out that well. I did kill it but got bitten in the process. The poison would have killed me if an immortal bird hadn't cried in the wound." Harry was enjoying this. He'd realized after his first statement how crazy this would sound to anyone outside the magical world, and he enjoyed throwing Pyrrha off balance because she always seemed to so calm and collected.

There was another brief moment of silence, "Right…. I don't know what thought scares me more. Either you've figured out a way to lie convincingly to my face or that all that really happened when you were twelve years old."

"Oh it happened all right. Did I mention that if you looked it in the eyes, you die instantly?"

Pyrrha just shook her head and raised her hand, "I don't want to know any more. Anyway, on to your training. On top of teaching you the basic stances, and practicing with me, I think it would be a good idea for you to do some strength training. You'll never be able to match someone like Cardin in pure strength but, luckily you won't need to. One of the things to take away from today's match has to do with that first block you attempted. You never would have been able to stop his swing and hold your ground. What you should have done is dodged out of the way like you started doing later or used your sword to divert his swings momentum."

"I know… I figured that bit out myself after I went flying across the field."

"That's good. It means you're learning from your mistakes. It should make your training go faster. Based on your build, your fighting style will most likely will be focused on your dexterity and speed. Most people with that style will want to dodge most of the time, and go in for small quick attacks. Your lucky in that regard, as your magic will allow you to get in some very heavy hits on top of all that."

"That sounds pretty good, so how do I work on getting faster?"

"Practice."

Harry laughed, "That's the answer to everything in life isn't it?"

"It is. Your speed will only come from practicing what you learn against an opponent. I can help you with that but, before we even start thinking about that we need to work on your basic stances. Grab your sword, and come face me over here."

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Harry felt like he did nothing else but practice. He got up extra early in the morning to go jogging around campus with Pyrrha, after scarfing down his lunch he would go and do some weights, and then, alternating days, after class he would practice casting spells along his sword and casting wandlessly. Just like casting through his sword, Harry realized the better focus he had, the easier wandless casting became. He still couldn't cast anything powerful or really offensive for that matter, but simple charms like the short range summoning or repairing were within his ability without leaving him exhausted. As for his actual sword skills, it was obvious he had improved. He couldn't yet match any of the other sword users a Beacon but, Pyrrha thought he was ahead of where he should be for the few weeks of training he had received.

It was because of all this, that Harry, like many of the other students, was eagerly awaiting the break he was about to receive. The entire first year class was heading out to the Forever Fall Forest with their Deputy Headmistress. As soon as their ship reached the edge of the forest Harry knew. He'd heard it described but that was nothing compared to seeing the crimson leaved trees for the first time. Nudging his partner he pointed out the window, she looked out and gasped. He noticed immediately the content smile that graced her face as she gazed out upon the beautiful landscape. He loved making her smile like that, her whole face lit up. To his own embarrassment, he'd spent a lot of time, as he got to know her, figuring out ways to coax smile out of her, not that it was hard by any means, Pyrrha seemed to be a naturally cheerful person by nature.

Their ship landed with a solid thump. "Team Hyperion with me!" He announced. Goodwitch had already given them their assignments as they left Beacon, so they were able to start their mission right away. He heard Ruby saying something similar to her team. They entered the wooded area, trailing slightly behind as he held the box of glass jars. He'd cast a discreet featherweight charm on it before they left, so it shouldn't be too much of a strain on his teammate.

Nora's voice broke their awed silence, "It's so pretty! Pyrrha pass me the the spile. How about that tree over there Ren?"

"That looks fine Nora."

Running up to the indicated tree, she lined up her newly acquired spile, while extending her warhammer, Magnhild, in the other. That's when Harry decided to intervene.

"Nora, I think that might be a little excessive. You're more likely to knock over the tree than actually put the spile into the trunk." She pouted cutely at him. "We just need to find something smaller to hammer it in."

"No need Harry, I got it." Looking back at her in confusion, he noticed her furrowed brow. A moment later the small metal tool began to float out of Nora's open palm making him realize that Pyrrha was using her semblance. She suddenly pushed her hand forward, the spile copying her movement and embedding itself, point first, into the tree.

"Well done Pyrrha!" Nora cried.

Over the next few minutes, the team busied themselves with filling the jars with the red sap. It wasn't until he'd filled the third jar for the second third time, that he noticed something was odd. Of course, it was also at that moment that he heard the quiet giggles and strange slurping sound behind him. Turning around he was treated to the odd sight of Ren trying, unsuccessfully, to retrieve the jar of sap from his partner before she finished guzzling the whole body. "So sweet! Ren you've gotta try this… wait… no it's all mine! You can't have any!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at his teammates antics. Walking up to Ren he held out his hand, "Here let me. I'll go refill it."

"Thanks… sorry about that. Sometimes she gets a little carried away."

He waved him off, "It's fine." Joining Pyrrha who was still stationed at the tree, he filled up to the brim. Them taking the lid, he waved his hand, casting a quick sticking charm, before sealing the jar. Trying to maintain a straight face, Harry passed the now full again jar off to Ren, only, as expected, to see Nora swipe it from under his arm.

"Nora!" The green haired youth cried in exasperation.

"Oops. Sorry." She singsonged in reply. Her happy demeanor soon took an about turn as she realized she couldn't remove the lid. He'd never seen the girl scowl so hard during the last month and half that he'd known her. Her arms were trembling from the force she was exerting in trying to get it open. He was just about to write the sap off as a loss, and give her hand when the jar shattered with a crash, coating herself in the sticky substance. "There we go!"

He would have made a smart reply about her methods if something hard hadn't chosen to smash across his back at that very moment. Looking down in confusion he found that he too was now covered in the red sap. Glancing into the distance, he tried to make out who had thrown what was obviously one of the classes assigned jars.

That's when he heard the buzzing start. Only a few heartbeats later he saw the swarm rising into the air and start heading in his direction. Luckily, he was still near Nora and Ren, and Pyrrha had come over to investigate at the initial sound of the crash. As the buzzing got louder, Harry soon realized that these were no normal bees, they seemed to be some kind of Grimm. With only seconds to spare, harry drew a large line in the ground with the tip of his sword and incanted, "Protego!" It something he'd discovered that worked in one of his early training sessions, though he didn't use it while sparring, as it didn't allow his to practice his swordsmanship.

A split second later, the small Grimm, still four times as large as a regular bee, started slamming into his invisible barrier. He knew it would hold for a few minutes without being recast but, what he wanted to figure out was how they were going to get rid of them. "Pyrrha, do you got any ideas how to get rid of these things? What happens if they sting you?"

"It looks like they're regular Rapier Wasps to me. Rapier Wasps are poisonous but their sting isn't enough to kill you, especially to a hunter but, multiple stings can lead to hallucinations and eventually loss of consciousness. There's too many of them and they're too small to take out with normal melee weapons without suffering some injuries."

Harry sighed, "I thought that might be the case. I'll have to do it." Turning to his other two teammates, who were watching the approaching Grimm slamming into his shield with confusion, he struggled to figure out what to say. "I'll explain once we get out of this, ok guys?"

"What are you talking about Harry? Explain what? Are you the one holding them back?" Ren asked.

"You'll see," Harry turned back towards the threat. "Stay alert, there's a chance a few might slip through when I do this."

Harry paused for moment to ready himself. He'd gotten the idea from something he'd remembered from his second year at Hogwarts but, he'd only seen hermione cast the spell once and the one time he'd tried to cast it, it had failed while he under the black lake but, many of his spells had gone haywire down there. Freeing his wand from his sword, he quickly dispelled his shield with a flick of his wand and immediately followed up with a large jab with a shout of, "Immobulus!"

Just like he'd hoped all the small Grimm froze in place, hanging in the air. "It worked! Take a step back guys while I clear them out. Incendio!" He pumped just enough power into the spell so that the flames exited his wand in a steady stream. Moments later the last of the small insect-like Grimm had crumbled to ashes. He turned back around to find not only his own team watching him but team RWBY as well.

"Well... that was a thing," Yang broke the silence.

Before he could respond, a loud roar, followed by terrified screaming could be heard coming from the opposite direction. "Someone's in trouble, let's go!"

A red blur of rose petals swept passed him after he'd taken even a few steps. He followed as best as he could, the remainder of the two teams matching his pace, but Ruby was nowhere in view. Finally after a minute of running, they broke through the trees to see a horrifying sight. There must have been about forty Beowolves circling around an obviously injured team CRDL and non other than Ruby Rose, scythe drawn and gleaming in the sun.

"There's too many of them," Pyrrha's voice was the only one that spoke.

"I have a plan."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Sorry for the cliffhanger guys… I'll do my best to get the next chapter out soon._


	7. Chapter 6: Cutting Loose

**Chapter 6:** _ **Cutting Loose**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _There we go, another chapter done. Sorry for the long wait after that last cliff hanger. I had my Linear Algebra Mid-Term Exam last night so I finally had some time to write. So you can all celebrate with the longest chapter yet… almost 6k words! I hope this all lives up to your expectations. It might be another little while before I can update again. Thank you so much to all of my followers. As always, please leave me a review to let me know what you guys think._

* * *

"I have a plan." The two teams looked to Harry after his calm declaration. "I'll get to Ruby, and help clear out the centre. You guys attack from the outside. Hopefully putting pressure from both sides will redirect their focus away from team CRDL. I know these are only Beowulves folks, but there is still a lot of them. Are we all good?"

At their nods Harry immediately put his plan into action. He'd actually gotten the idea for this from his fight with Cardin several weeks earlier. He raised his wand high into the air, as if about to conduct a symphony, shouting, "Ventus Semita!"

With a great roar, two giant walls of wind rose up in front of him, leaving a narrow path between them to the centre of the hord. The effectiveness of wind spells on moving targets was again displayed as many ranks of Grimm had their forward momentum redirected in different directions, momentarily disrupting their synchronized movement.

Harry barely got to appreciate his handiwork though, because as soon as the spell had taken effect, he had been moving. Running down his 'Path of Wind' was a strange experience, he could both feel and hear it on either side of him, yet his path was calm. It was like standing in the eye of a storm. About halfway there, he managed to redraw his sword and click his wand into place, knowing his fledgling sword skills would be more effective in the close combat he was about to enter. By doing so, he cut the power sustaining his path but as he reached Ruby's side, the Grimm were only just starting to regain their circular pace, and they seemed even more agitated.

"You really shouldn't leave your team behind like that."

"But people were in trouble!" Ruby responded passionately as she slashed at a Grimm that ventured too close.

"I know, but what good would you have been to them if you got yourself trapped alone like this!"

Instead of the expected reply, Harry barely even realized that her scythe was on what appeared a collision course with his head. The fear hadn't even kicked in yet when it was already passed him, striking something with a meaty thump over his shoulder. Jumping away and turning, he saw a Grimm that had been about to tear into his back, fading away on the ground.

"Do you really want to talk about this now?" His fellow team leader sounded exasperated.

He grunted in reply, internally switching between freaking out over his near death to berating himself for not noticing it coming. "Let's just kill some Grimm." The smile he got in return was almost scary coming from a fifteen year-old girl.

Harry saw the next Grimm from the pack beginning its approach. For the first time, he decided to take the offensive approach, seeing as all his other initial Grimm-felling techniques had been huge flops. Hefting his sword, he charged forward in a straight line, but kept his eyes sharp on any movement in its large claws, just as Pyrrha had taught him.

He actually didn't have all that hard of a time reading people, or in this case Grimm, because of the nature of magic itself. Successful dueling in the wizarding world relied heavily on pre-empting your opponent's strikes and analyzing what spells are cast in a matter of seconds. He'd also learned it was a good skill to have if you didn't want to collide head on with the opposing seeker when chasing the snitch.

With this in mind, it was all too easy for Harry to see the beast begin to shift its weight, as it drew one arm back, preparing to strike. Dodging in the opposite direction and ducking downwards, he avoiding the massive swipe of its claws that would have otherwise taken his head off or, at the very least, sent him sprawling. Coming up within its guard, he quickly turned and slashed its overextended limb. His blade bit deeply into its flesh, but not enough to completely remove it. Pulling hard on the handle, Harry was able to remove it with a loud squelch.

He stumbled backwards at the sudden lack of resistance, in the opposite direction of the Beowulf. It had reeled back, howling at the sudden pain in its injuring extremity. He took a moment trying to figure out how he was going to take it down. It was obvious he wasn't strong enough yet to remove limbs with one strike. Before he could come to a decision, a red streak flashed by him again, and within the blink of an eye, the recovering Grimm was missing its head. "Thought you could use a bit of a hand."

Harry scowled, trying to formulate a response amidst the fluttering rose petals, but was soon distracted by the sight of two more Grimm advancing on his position. Preparing how he was going to tackle this new threat, he suddenly realized that as soon as he'd starting fighting with his sword, he'd gone into his training mindset, completely forgetting about his magic. That was going to be rectified soon. Gathering up his magic, he thought of something else he'd been itching to try out, "Fulgur!"

The monstrous boom of thunder spread from his location, as his blade came alive with crackling electricity. The loud sound had actually caused many of the surrounding Beowulves to hesitate, giving him the opening he needed. Rushing forward once again, Harry scored a thin scratch across the one Grimm's chest. The cut itself didn't do much damage, but the shock from the lightning he was channeling managed to send it flying backwards.

As he'd managed to keep the other Grimm in his sight, he easily raised his sword deflecting the momentum of its strike. The shock it received from coming into contact with the blade wasn't enough to send it flying but did cause it to reel backwards. Seeing his chance, Harry thrust the tip forward, impaling it through the chest. He knew it had worked when the its body immediately began to disintegrate.

A moment later, the first Grimm was back for more. Dropping under its attempt at evisceration, Harry was able to dive between its legs, slashing the back of its calf. The effect was immediate, one leg unable to support its weight, it dropped onto all fours, leaving an easy target for him to stab straight through the back.

Panting in exertion, Harry looked around him, to see the formation of Grimm breaking up, several choosing to engage his allies on the other side. However, this didn't stop several more Beowulves from attacking him over the following minutes. After dispatching another two with similar tactics, he had an idle thought back to one of his classes. He was sure one of his professors had mentioned that the Grimm were most vulnerable underneath their bone masks and remembering to the effectiveness with which he'd slayed the Nevermore by stabbing it there, he decided to give it another go.

As the next Grimm advanced upon him, Harry followed his tested practices by avoiding its attacks waiting for the opening to get within striking range. Yet, when the opportunity came, instead of attacking one of its limbs, as he'd become accustomed to doing, he brought his sword down in a large horizontal slash across its face. Except instead of cutting through the mask like butter, as he'd expected, it skidded off and to the side in a shower of sparks. His momentary surprise was enough for the Grimm to backhand him away, where he landed on his back, nearly impaling himself on his own sword.

Struggling into a seated position, Harry gave a quick "Ventus!" to blow back his approaching enemy. Climbing to his feet, he tried to figure out what had went wrong. Even bone shouldn't have been that resistant to his attack. It was that thought with gave Harry an idea. He'd remembered reading about the Bone Breaker Curse last year in his search for defensive spells. He'd never actually tried casting it, seeing how many considered it to be borderline dark, and he had no idea how it would interact with his sword, but he was certain, if the Grimm's masks were indeed some type of bone, this spell should effective. Muttering the incantation, his blade was suddenly suffused with a dark purple glow.

Hoping that it had worked, Harry readied himself for the charging Grimm. Once again, moving out of the way of its attack, Harry held his sword aloft. As the Beowulf moved into the appropropriate position Harry swung his sword hard at its Head like a baseball bat. Even though he'd been hoping it would be effective, he hadn't anticipated this. As the temporarily enchanted weapon connected, the mask shattered like fine china, allowing the blade to continue on, unimpeded, into the soft tissue behind. Harry realized belatedly that his professor hadn't been kidding about the underside of the mask being a weak spot, as his single strike effectively disconnected the upper half of the Grimm's head.

Harry stopped, realizing what he'd just done with such ease, but before he was able to think about it too much, he was attacked again. Harry noticed immediately at the beginning of this fight, that the number of Grimm were starting to dwindle. Utilizing his new technique, Harry was able to dispatch his challenger quickly as well as the next two that followed it. Pulling his sword free from another body, he chanced a look around the clearing, still tense in anticipation of more enemies.

He started to relax almost immediately though, when he saw Nora and Ren take down their last opponent, that is until he saw Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye. She was the farthest away from the rest of the group, fighting the last three Beowulves simultaneously. Normally he wouldn't be concerned, having seen her skills in combat, but it was at this very moment he could see one of the Grimm lunging at her unprotected back. The whole thing seemed to be happening in slow motion. Wanting nothing more to be able to help his partner and friend, Harry felt the panic start to rise in his chest. He twisted in her direction and suddenly disappeared with a loud pop.

An uncomfortable moment later, he reappeared in between Pyrrha and the oncoming danger. Without sparing a thought for the fact that he'd just apparated, Harry brought his sword down on top of the Grimm's head, killing it instantly. Before he could celebrate his accomplishment or before he'd even finished the full movement with his sword, he felt a sudden blinding pain erupted in his side. Looking down, he blinked in confusion at seeing his partners sword cutting into his flesh. He was dimly aware of dropping his own weapon as he tried to figure out what was going on. As the edges of his vision started to get fuzzy, he started to hear a panicked voice calling his name, but he couldn't seem to focus on it. Just before he lost consciousness, Harry finally realized that Pyrrha had probably known where the Grimm was all along, and he'd just gotten in the way.

* * *

Harry awoke to a very familiar scene. It seemed, even a universe away, he was destined to have several visits to the hospital wing per year. Attempting to sit up, he gasped as he felt a flare of pain in his side. Glancing down he was met with the sight of bandages wrapped around his torso under his hospital gown.

"That's a nasty cut you got there," Professor Ozpin stepped out of the shadows. "You're lucky it didn't go any deeper and that it missed anything important. Your aura has already done most of the major healing, but it will still be feeling tender for a few days."

"That's good but what about the others? Are they ok? The Grimm-"

"Ah yes. Your comrades are fine. Team CRDL had sustained some injuries but they will be fine. It seems you sustained the worst of them and from what I hear, it wasn't even from the Grimm you were fighting." Ozpin paused. "Miss Nikos was most adamant that she be allowed to stay until you wake. She has been waiting outside for several hours."

"It's not her fault," he blurted out. "I'm the one who got in her way, she had no way of knowing I was behind her." Harry really hoped his partner wasn't going to get punished over this.

"Calm down Harry. I'm not assigning blame here. As you said, it wasn't her fault, but it wasn't your fault either. From what I've gathered you were just attempting to come to your partner's aid, just as she didn't know you were behind her because she wasn't aware you could use your powers to travel from one place to another instantaneously." The Headmaster said the last part with a raised eyebrow. Harry could read between the lines, Ozpin wanted to know why he hadn't told him about that particular ability.

"It's called apparating. That was the first time I've ever done it before though. Where I'm from you're not allowed to get a license until your seventeen."

"I see. And you were able to use this ability in the heat of battle without proper instruction?"

"I don't how it happened. It was almost like accidental magic. It happens a lot to wizards when their young, especially when feeling heightened emotions. I just saw the Beowulf lunging at her back. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. I was so scared of losing her and wanted nothing more to be by her side at that moment, then I just disappeared and reappeared between them."

"Interesting." Ozpin considered this for a moment before seeming to accept my explanation at face value. "As I said before, neither of you will be punished for this. I usually find that the natural consequences of one's mistakes on the battlefield are punishment enough. I hope you and your partner learn from this situation though. Communication is key in all situations going forward."

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good," Ozpin smiled. "Now, I believe I better let Miss Nikos in. If she has to wait any longer, I believe we'll all have to fear for our safety. Good night."

Barely a moment after he'd left the room, the door opened once again to admit a familiar sight. Harry soon realized that Ozpin had been literal with his earlier comment, as the tall redhead strode towards him. She really must not have left the hospital wing all day, as she was still in her recognizable spartan themed armor from earlier.

"Pyrrha." She stopped a few feet away from his bed, wringing her hands nervously.

"A-are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Pyrrha moved a bit closer at his words. "Ozpin said that my aura has already healed most of the damage. It's still a little sore but the pain should fade soon. It's just a flesh wound." He tried to lighten the mood with a smile but his partner still seemed conflicted.

"I'm sorry. This never should have-"

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm fine. It's no big deal."

"But you're not!" Her raised voice caught his attention immediately. He'd never seen her like this. So upset and unsure of herself, she was usually always so composed. She seemed to realize the same thing because she ducked her head and didn't say anything for a few moments. When she raised her head back up to meet his gaze, he was shocked to see tears pooling in her emerald eyes. "How can you say it's no big deal? You could have died! I almost killed you!"

She fell silent again, seemingly at a loss for words. Harry was unsure of what to do, like he always was, when confronted with a crying member of the opposite sex, but decided to just go with what felt naturally. Reaching out he took her hand in his own. "It's ok. It's my fault I was even there without telling you in the first place. I just thought you were about to be hit and… I… I just can't lose you. You're the closest person I have here on Remnant, yet despite that, it was still my fault for putting myself in your line of fire without communicating properly. We can learn from this though, the both of us. We'll do better in the future."

Harry found himself the recipient of a bone crushing hug that made his side ache uncomfortably, but he wasn't complaining.

"So are we good?" She just nodded in response wiping her eyes. "I guess I'll have to figure out what to say to Ren, Nora and Team RWBY now. They saw me perform lots of magic earlier, I don't think I have any excuses for what I did."

Harry noticed immediately as his partner stiffened at his words. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"When we first got back they were all talking about what you'd done. I'm sorry, I'm not good at hiding stuff… they realized pretty easily that I knew more about it. They started asking me to explain and I told them I didn't know what they were talking about. They didn't believe me and I adventually admitted I did know more, but I told them that they were your secrets and that I wouldn't tell them anything without your permission. Professor Ozpin walked in at that point. He'd heard our conversation and said that since it was getting out anyway, that I should explain the basics. He then pressed the importance of them not spreading the information around and came in here."

"So… you told them?"

"Yes. I'm sorry Harry. I know you trusted me to keep your story safe. Please know I didn't tell them any of the person details you told me. I just explained about where you were from and how you could use real magic. I understand if you're upset with me."

"No no! It's fine. This actually makes it easier. I don't have to worry about telling them myself now. They actually believed you though? Just like that?"

"Well, I think they were a little sceptical at first, but there's not much they could say after what the Headmaster said to them. He clearly believes you. I think they were mostly just shocked. It's really not that hard to believe after seeing the stuff you did yesterday."

"That's good." He let out a huge yawn, eyes blinking sleepily. It seemed the strain on his aura to heal his wound was taking a lot out of him.

"You're still tired," she accused. "I better let you rest."

"Will you… will you just sit with me for a while…. If you don't mind." Harry's eyes were already closing as he uttered his latest request so he didn't notice the big smile that graced his partners face.

"Of course Harry."

"Thanks," the last bit came out mumbled as sleep claimed him once again.

* * *

"So what do you say? Are you up for it?" The blonde brawler of team RWBY asked.

"You want me to spar against all of Team RWBY... at once?"

"Exactly!"

"I know I've gotten better with my sword but I don't think I've gotten THAT good yet." Harry shook his head, trying to figure out what the girl was thinking. It was a week after the incident in the Forever Fall Forest and Harry was finally feeling back to his normal self. They'd let him out of the hospital wing the day after his late night chat with Pyrrha, but he'd still been feeling the effects of his injury for several days. Now his team, along with Team RWBY, were in one of the training rooms they'd booked for the afternoon.

"I don't care about your swordwork! I want to see what you can do with your magic!" Yang waved her hand wildly in front of her as if suddenly expecting something to happen.

"Yeah!" Ruby jumped in.

"What my my teammates are trying to say is that, though Pyrrha has been doing a wonderful job helping you in your training, we want to see what you can do against all of us without holding back. Which we're sure you have been doing when you were trying to avoid suspicion," Blake added.

Harry thought it over for a minute, "Are you sure?" He was actually pretty convinced that going full out would leave him with the advantage, seeing as they'd never encountered magic before. He'd have to be careful if they manage to get up close, but with his new found training, he was better equipped to deal with that eventuality than he would have been a few months ago.

"Hell ya!" Yang cried pumping her fist in the air.

Suddenly Pyrrha was at his side speaking in a low tone, "Are you sure want to do this… go up against all four of them alone?" She looked worried. Ever since the incident, he'd noticed her sticking closer to him than usual, as if she was afraid to let him out of her sight.

"I'll be fine. They're right. Without holding back I think I can match them. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, you haven't even seen half of them yet. Plus, they're our friends, they won't do anything to cause serious injury."

"Ok. Sorry for… you know… worrying so much."

"It's ok. It just shows you care." Pyrrha blushed at his comment.

"I know you'll do well. Just remember your training, even when not using a sword, you're dodging abilities will still be useful."

"Thanks." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. Before she left, she started to lean in towards him. Harry was sure she was about to kiss him, but she froze, meeting his eyes in a moment of awkward uncertainty. Just when he'd thought she'd made up her mind to continue her course of action, they were interrupted.

"Oi, love birds! Hurry it up! We've got a fight to start!" Yang's voice broke the silence.

Both of them flushing a deeper shade of red, Pyrrha gave him a quick hug before hurrying over to the sidelines. Trying to get his mind off of what had almost just transpired, Harry barely noticed Ruby smacking her sister. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Are you guys ready?" Harry asked after ejecting his wand, and leaning his sword against the wall. He wanted as much mobility as possible in this fight and his blade would just slow him down. At their nods acquiescence, he called out to his partner, "Pyrrha! Can you count us down?"

"Of course! 3...2...1...Begin!"

As soon as the match began, Harry saw team RWBY start charging in his direction. It seemed they were planning to get up close where his magic would be less effective, just as he'd predicted.

"Ventus!" The spell had been very effective against Cardin, and he was hoping it would give him some room to fight. The big gust of wind he summoned accomplished what he wanted, but was not as effective as last time he'd used it. While Yang, Blake, and Weiss were blown backwards, Ruby swung her giant scythe downwards straight into the ground, anchoring herself and conveniently aiming the sniper rifle directly towards him.

"Protego!" Harry's shield spell was raised just in time to block the first shot. To his surprise, it shattered his shield on contact, though the dust round was successfully stopped. Luckily for him he'd also dived to the side at the same time, and the rest of Ruby's clip was emptied above his head.

Jumping to his feet he turned to see where his other opponents were, when he felt something impact his leg. Glancing down, he found it was frozen in place, in a long path of ice, obviously conjured by Weiss' rapier. Seeing them all begin their advance once again, Harry aimed his wand at the group's feet, "Bombarda!"

The bright blue spell arched towards it's intended target causing Yang to easily jump out of its way, but that's exactly what he'd intended. As the spell hit the floor, the wave of force that the explosion caused, knocked them all off their feet. Now that he had a moment to concentrate, he focused back at his trapped leg, "Incendio." Wincing at the sudden intense heat, Harry hurriedly applied a flame freezing charm to himself, cursing his thoughtlessness.

As the ice finally melted from around him, and Team RWBY staggered to their feet, Harry decided to switch tactics. "Caligo!"

Thick mist quickly poured from the tip of his wand, filling the room and obscuring all of their views. "Homenum Revelio." The outlines of the opposite team lit up to his eyes through the fog. Creeping slowly forward, he saw a short figure to his right that he was sure was Ruby, the other two nearby he figured were Yang and Weiss from the outlines of their body.

It was only then that he realized he was only counting three opponents. Spinning around he again barely raised a shield to deflect Blake's blow, and cause her to stumble back. He'd found the shield spell was almost more effective with physical attacks here on remnant, than the magical ones he'd used it primarily for before. The massive rebound it tended to cause gave him a moment to recover after every hit.

Retreating back into the fog, he changed directions hoping to throw her off. Keeping his eyes on the raven haired teen's outline, he was shocked to see her immediately turn and head straight in his direction. 'How can she see me? No one can see through this fog. Is she able to hear me walk around?' Harry highly doubted she could hear him, he'd learned to become all but silent from growing up with the Dursley's and Blake would have to have very good hearing to pick up on that from across the room.

Deciding to test his theory, he muttered a quick silencing charm on himself and swiftly ran in the opposite direction. Stopping, he saw Blake's step had faltered as her head swiveled around as if searching for him. 'Hmm… so she could hear me. Interesting.' Any further thoughts on this matter were cut off as something slammed into his back…. hard.

Flying through the air, Harry soon found himself sprawled across the ground. Groaning he pushed himself off the ground, seeing Yang, the one who had obviously hit him, heading his way. The fog he'd created had started to fade.

"There you are! Sorry about that Harry, but couldn't let you hide away from us. Thought I'd start our little reunion off with a Yang!"

"God dammit Yang! Just stop with the puns!" Ruby's voice carried out from the thinning fog on his left.

"Depulso!" His spell impacted the blonde right in her midsection, but it only pushed her back a few feet. Her smile unfaltering she continued walking, cracking her knuckles. 'Did that just make her stronger?'

Knowing he didn't have time to think through a proper plan to deal with Yang, yet he decided to buy himself some time. "Levicorpus!" The girl gave out a surprised shout as she was suddenly hoisted into the air by her ankle.

Ignoring her curses he tried to think of how to deal with the rest of the team, now that they were converging on his location. He had the beginnings of a plan when his train of thought was completely derailed by the girl suspended above him. "Hey Harry! If you wanted to see up my skirt so bad, you could've just asked, you didn't need to go to such lengths!"

"Wait… what?!" It seemed it had all been apart of her plan as a moment later, Harry was once again cartwheeling through the air when Weiss hit him with her glyph enhanced speed. He was feeling very thankful for having his aura unlocked, otherwise the sharp point of her rapier most likely would have skewered him.

Rolling onto his front, he saw the Schnee Heiress preparing for her second strike. "Aguamenti!" He pushed more magic than usual into the spell ensuring it came firing out like a pressure washer instead of the usual slow trickle. He heard Weiss shriek as she was soaked through her clothes. He wasn't done yet, pointing his wand at the big puddle of water, he intoned, "Glacius!' Similar to his match with Cardin, the ground froze over, but this time reaching upwards to the water clinging to Weiss, and immobilizing her legs. 'Let's see how she likes being frozen.'

Apparently she had similar ideas to his own as he saw her immediately rotate Myrtenaster's chamber to the red dust setting. "Oh no you don't. Expelliarmus!" Just as he'd hoped, she immediately lost her grip on her weapon, causing it to go spinning through the air. The problem being was that her weapon went spinning through the air TOWARDS HIM. Diving to the side, he made it out of the way of both the sword, that now stood quivering point down into the ground, and Ruby's sniper round fired at his unprotected back.

Shooting her an annoyed look, she just smiled back innocently, causing him to scowl. He was forced to continue moving as Yang, who'd finally seemed to get comfortable in her position in the air, was now using her height off the ground as an advantage for firing off shots from Ember Celica. Blake also took that moment to reappear, lashing out at him, left and right, using her clones to dodge away from his attempts at retaliation. He needed a way to keep her busy while he figured out how to subdue Weiss and Yang for good.

Just as he was contemplating his options, his eyes scanned across the shelves of practice dummies lined in the corner. He knew the tactic had been effective for Dumbledore back at the Ministry of Magic, but Harry had never tried something so complex even if he did know the charm. Swishing his wand in their direction he watched as five of the dummies rose from their shelves, and he implanted the simple instructions for them to attack Blake. "Incendio!" His thick stream of fire forced forced Blake to jump backwards right into his trap. He knew his animated dummies should keep her busy for a moment, but he had no delusions that they would be enough to defeat her.

Turning away he jogged back over towards the others, dodging more shots from the two sisters. Deciding to deal with Yang first, he chose a simple approach. "Incarcerous!" Thick ropes shot from the end of his wand wrapping around Yang's still floating form and forcing her arms against her body. He had realized that some of the offensive spells he used against her, only seemed to make her more powerful, and he didn't want to take any chances with that, so he'd bound her physically instead.

"Hmmm… who knew you were so kinky Harry!" Harry ignored her turning towards Weiss, though he couldn't quite keep the blush off his face. The white haired teen had started to crack the thick ice holding her prisoner, but had not had much success without her weapon.

Approaching her quickly he shot off a, "Stupefy," catching her before she could fall and twist her ankle. He dispelled the ice with another flick of his wand, and conjured some more ropes, leaving her on the ground.

Blake had already torn through four of the animated practice dummies, and was facing away from him, taking down the fifth. "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell hit her square in the back, causing her body to stiffen and topple backwards. A quick cushioning charm on the floor lessened the impact.

"And then there were two." Harry turned slowly to face his last opponent, his fellow team captain, Ruby Rose. She twirled her weapon between her hands so fast it was a blurr. Harry really did not want to get close to that wickedly sharp scythe. He knew Ruby was fast enough to avoid almost all of his spells and once she got close enough her weapon would give her superior reach. He needed something else. Maybe it was finally time to try out another spell he'd found while researching the year before. He'd been itching to give it a go ever since he'd found it and deemed it too dangerous for the D.A. 'I guess there's no time like the present.' "Fulgur Flagello!"

As soon as he'd finished speaking, there was a loud boom of thunder, much like when he'd tried his other lightning spell the week before. A long whip of lightning extended from his wand. Giving it an experimental twirl, he was shocked to feel the energy that seemed to thrum through his hand. He was pretty sure this might be one of the most powerful spell he'd cast aside from the Patronus Charm. Thinking about the Patronus Charm, he decided to test out it's effect on Grimm at a later point.

His momentary distraction was enough for Ruby to blur forward in a shower of rose petals. Unable to see where she was, he brought the whip down on the floor in front of him as hard as he could. Ruby, suddenly visible, careened to the side avoiding the blow. As the whip crashed down with a loud explosion, it left a large crater in the floor behind.

Seeing Ruby disappear once again, he swung it around him in a large arch hoping to keep her at bay. It seemed to work, as a moment later, she reappeared a little distance away from him. Redirecting his swing towards her she easily blocked it with the shaft of crescent rose. The force of the strike caused the whip to curl around it and get stuck. At first nothing happened, and Harry was starting feel the strain of sustaining the spell, sweat beading his forehead.

With the electrical charge building, and soon running through the whole weapon, eventually something had to give. In this case it was the scope of the rifle part that cracked then shattered. Finally running out of steam, Harry allowed the spell to fade away. Ruby, staring at her singed weapon in shock finally raised her furious eyes in Harry's direction. "You. Hurt. Crescent. Rose!"

Gulping nervously, Harry took a step backwards as Ruby raised her scythe and once again charged. Pumping magic into his wand without a thought, Harry wasn't really sure what happened next. All he knew was a moment later, he felt the large blade lightly pressing against the back of his neck while his own wand, the tip glowing bright red, was pressed under Ruby's chin. They both remained silent for just a moment, "So a tie then?"

"Fine… a tie," Ruby begrudgingly admitted before grumbling, "I still can't believe you damaged Crescent Rose."

"Reparo." Harry had pointed his wand at her weapon before she could react and let out a relieved sigh when everything shifted back into its place. A moment later, he was tackled by his thankful friend. Harry then set about freeing and awakening the others to their relief.

Getting a congratulatory hug from Pyrrha, Harry couldn't help but smile. This had been a fun afternoon, and it had been relief to just let loose with his magic once again. His teammates seemed to have agreed as Nora's voice overrode the group, "That was awesome! Our leader is so cool!"


	8. Chapter 7: Out on the Town

**Chapter 7:** _ **Out on the Town**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I can't believe it's almost been a whole month. I got really busy after my Linear Algebra Mid-Term and didn't have any time to write. I wrote my final exam in that last weekend and have my Calculus final on Monday so hopeful I won't keep you guys waiting for as long from now on._

 _I wanted to first of all thank everyone for the response I've received to this story. I can't believe it already has 450 followers and over 300 favorites. I really appreciate the reviews I've received and look forward to more feedback as I continue to write._

 _Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Please enjoy the chapter._

* * *

"Harry…"

"Hmm…?"

"Harry!"

He was jolted out of his thoughts by someone saying his name. Looking around he immediately noticed that it was the only other person currently in his dormroom, his partner. "Oh, hey Pyrrha. Sorry about that… just lost in my thoughts. Did you need something?"

"That's fine… I was just saying that I think you should get some armor today when we're out in Vale." At his questioning look she continued, "I know you can protect yourself with magic, but unless you want more people to find out about it, it would probably be a good idea to have something else."

"Oh… ok…" Harry's brain was assaulted with images of him trying and failing to move around, let alone fight, in a big metal suit reminiscent of the armor found in the many hallways at Hogwarts. "I don't know how well I'll be able to move around in it though."

"Well, I was thinking of a modern design for you… I actually had a few ideas and it hopefully wouldn't restrict your movement. I know a good shop in town, they do custom work for hunters and hunters-in-training."

"That sounds both great... and expensive… I don't really have any money coming from another world and all…" he trailed off.

"Oh!" Pyrrha looked shocked. He assumed she hadn't even thought about that. "I can get it for you… it's no big deal!"

"No!" Harry nearly shouted causing his partner to jump. Feeling bad for his outburst he continued in a softer tone, "I couldn't ask you to do that. It's probably going to be really expensive and I should be able to pay my own way... " He trailed off as he came to a sudden realization. He was acting just like Ron. He'd never understood why his best friend was always so caught up on money. Harry had it and had wanted to share it with his friends but he'd quickly learned Ron to be sensitive to the topic. Harry finally understood how his friend had felt, not that it mattered now...

"Harry!" Once again, Harry was broken out his stupor by his partner. "Are you ok?"

"Ya. Sorry… just something I said brought up some old memories."

Pyrrha paused watching him carefully for a moment as if searching for the validity of his claims before continuing. "I was just saying it's not a big deal. I've won tonnes of money from the tournaments I've been in and the related sponsorship deals. I've never spent much on myself either, other than keeping my gear maintained."

"Are you sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?" He was wavering. It would be really nice to get some proper gear to fight in and he was trying to remind himself how he felt when he used to offer to pay for things for his friends. He had been truly offering back then, not just trying to be polite.

"Of course it won't be! You'll be making tonnes of lien soon enough when we are able to start going on missions. If it matters so much to you, you can pay me back in the future. Think of this as a loan.

"Ok sure. I can do that." Harry smiled suddenly feeling better about the whole thing. "Actually I have an idea one second." Turning towards the small table beside his bed, he started digging through the drawer for one of the few things that had come with him from his world. "Aha! This might be worth something for you, especially if you can shape it with your semblance." He flicked the small object towards her, which she easily caught with her honed reflexes.

"Is this solid gold?" She asked shocked as she examined the small Galleon.

"I think so. If it's worth anything, consider it a down payment."

"Of course it's worth something! Remnant's biggest industry might be in dust manufacturing but there's still lots of lien in mining precious metals. I don't know if I'll be able to manipulated it though. My semblance lets me control magnetism not reshape metal."

Harry shot a confused glance, "I know… you just need to focus on manipulating the magnetic field on the atomic level. It should let you reshape the metal. It worked for Magneto!"

"Magneto?"

Harry froze. There was no way he was going to admit to her that his whole idea for her semblance came from reading a comic book. "Err… nevermind. It should work… just give it a try."

Rolling her eyes she began to focus intently on the coin in her hand. After a few moments her whole body was surrounded by her dark coloured aura and the Galleon followed moments later. It slowly lifted off of her hand and remained floating there as she continued to stare at it. Another few moments something began to happen. The very surface of the coin seemed to ripple like water, and Pyrrha let out a loud grunt of exertion. Scrunching her eyes closed and furrowing her brow, the gold began to change shape. It started slowly at first but sped up as more began to change. When Pyrrha had finally finished she sat, breathing heavily, but smiling brightly while holding a smooth golden ball in her hand.

"See! I knew you could-" Harry was cut off as he suddenly found himself having the life squeezed out of him.

"Thank you so much Harry! There are so many more things I can learn now that I know this is a possibility!" His reply was mostly unintelligible as he tried to get over the shock of the sudden hug and the fact that his partner, his very attractive partner mind you, was pressed tightly up against him.

"I'm glad I could help," he managed to squeak out as she let him go. Clearing his throat in an attempt to save his dignity he asked, "Shall we head out to meet our team and team RWBY?"

"That sounds grand!"

* * *

"What are we doing here again? This is so boring!" Harry wouldn't say it out loud but, he was tending to agree with his teammate. When he had agreed to spend some time with their friends on team RWBY, he hadn't been expecting to be spending that time standing around the docks.

Off to one side was obviously a more industrial area where large crates were being loaded and unloaded from cargo ships and on the side they were obviously preparing for the coming influx of tourists for the Vytal Festival. Actually, looking over at his fellow team leader, he got the sense this wasn't what she wanted to be doing either.

"I know! I wanted to go shopping for parts for Crescent Rose! Why did you make use come here Weiss?" Ok, so it was Weiss' idea. That was strange though as the smelly docks didn't seem to be what Harry would consider her scene.

"She's just here to spy on the incoming teams," Yang cut in with a smirk.

"You can't prove that!" The heiress snapped, starting to look a little flushed.

"Anyways," Harry spoke above the girls squabbling, "Pyrrha and I have some shopping to do, so I believe we are going to take out leave."

"Yes! Ren we're leaving too!" The short redhead announced, grabbing her partners hand and dragging him off.

"Wait! Nora! Slow down…"

"I sorta feel bad for the day Ren's going to have. Keeping Nora under control out here in the city will be a chore," Harry said to his partner as they started walking away from the docks.

"Yes, but even though he doesn't show it, I think he enjoys it. They have a deeper relationship than it may seem on the surface." Harry caught her watching speculatively as she said this but she looked away once he noticed.

They continued on, walking in silence, for the rest of the way, except for when Pyrrha interrupted to give directions.

"Here it is." Harry looked up at the building before them at Pyrrha's announcement.

Entering the shop, he held the door for Pyrrha while taking a quick glance around. It appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be a regular clothes shop. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but seeing how flashy many hunters tended to be, he had expected a bit more.

Before he could ask Pyrrha about this, someone was speaking to them, "Hunters?" Pyrrha nodded to the woman behind the counter he'd just noticed. For a second Harry had wondered how she'd known before realizing that they both still had their weapons on them. "You'll want to go see Slate at the back of the shop. He'll take care of your custom orders."

"Thank you ma'am. We'll be sure to do that." Before Harry could voice his own thanks, Pyrrha had hooked her arm around him and was pulling him deeper into the shop. He stumbled after her trying to keep his balance. Sometimes it seemed that she didn't know her own strength.

"So what exactly am I looking for then? Like I said before, I don't think I want to go for full out metal armor."

"I know. I wasn't planning on you getting that anyway… you said back where your from wizards wore robes right?"

"Well ya… but they weren't the most practical of things and I don't know how they would help protect me…"

"I wasn't thinking that you should get robes. I was thinking more along the lines of some kind of cloak like Ruby has. There are tons of available materials to use that would be give it protective capabilities equal to some armors. Some people even craft dust into the material they choose which allows for easier infusion of aura. With some practice, you could use it to absorb damage during fighting, and rely less on your shield charms."

"That's actually a great idea Pyrrha!" His partner blushed at his praise. He couldn't help but notice how cute looked when she was embarrassed. Before he could follow that train of thought more they were both interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I couldn't help but overhear the end of your conversation. I can probably make a cloak similar to what you want depending on your choice in materials. The names Slate by the way. I do most of the hunters custom orders for weapons and armor here in Vale."

"Perfect... here were some of the materials I was thinking," Pyrrha handed over a list to the man behind the counter who seemed to be in his late forties. The man glanced over the contents quickly.

"This seems doable but it'll be pretty heavy," He glanced at Harry with a critical eye, obviously unbelieving that he would be able to handle it.

"It'll be fine. Probably will just take a little getting used to," Harry bristled slightly, He'd gotten a lot more in shape with his intensive training over the past few months. He had found that having an unlocked aura seemed to help prepare the damage done to the body after a long workout very quickly.

"Are you sure kid?"

"Yes. I'm very sure."

"Okay… It's gonna be pretty expensive as well with the materials you've chose and the detail required."

"I -," Harry was cut off when he tried to intervene.

"That's fine. We can pay."

"It will probably be done by the end of day tomorrow. Let me just go into the backroom and grab you a receipt."

Harry just watched Pyrrha as she nodded her acceptance to Slate and he exited their range of view. Harry was surprised about how happy she looked being able to do this for him. She'd already done so much for him since they'd met. He was surprised at how fast she had been able to gain his trust, a feat not accomplished by many in his life. He enjoyed spending his time with her whether training or just relaxing with the team and he was pretty sure she was the most genuinely kind person he'd ever met on both Earth and Remnant.

His thoughts finally flashed back to what he'd heard Weiss and Yang discussing on the ride into town. The Vytal Tournament Ball. He'd cringed at first when hearing the news, reminded about his awkward and mostly awful experience in his fourth year at Hogwarts. He'd almost immediately decided not to go. Unfortunately for him, a little voice in the back of his head couldn't help but point out that Hermione had had lots of fun at the Yule Ball until Ron had ruined it. So had Neville with Ginny. So why had his experience been so bad? The answer came almost immediately. He hadn't gotten to go with who he had wanted. As he thought about this Cho's face flashed quickly before his eyes. Though, now the thought of having to interact with his ex-girlfriend, if you could call their one kiss and singularly failed date dating, for any length of time terrifying, back then it had meant a lot to him.

So, if he was going to go to this ball, he needed to find the right date. His eyes immediately alighted on his partner, who was waiting patiently for Slate to come back with their receipt. He'd been attracted to Pyrrha from the moment he'd met her. He was pretty sure that it was obvious to everyone that she was exceptionally beautiful. Harry had also realized that his feelings for her were changing when he'd thought her life was in danger in the Forever Fall Forest. He'd realized then and there that she was the most important person to him in this world. It frankly kind of scared him how quickly she'd become an essential part of his life.

Now…. he'd need to think of a way to ask her. He knew that with her fame, much like his own at Hogwarts, that people would most likely start swarming her with invitations soon enough. He was not going to make the same mistake as last time and miss out. Maybe it would be a good idea to take her out to lunch and ask her there? Yeah! That's a great idea! Now… he'd just need to think of a way to ask her out to lunch so he could ask her to the dance.

"Do you want to go out for lunch after this?" Yep… he just blurted it out with no context whatsoever. Harry mentally cursed himself.

Pyrrha cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow at him speculatively. Shit! What was he thinking? They were just friends, she didn't want to go on a date with him! This was going to be so awkward now...

"I thought we had already agreed to grab lunch before going to find Ren and Nora?" She sounded amused. Harry was once again cursing himself, he had totally forgotten they had already to agreed to go out to lunch… as friends. Of course she wouldn't realize he was asking her on a date. The little voice in the back of his head was back, pointing out how he could just play it off as a mistake and not risk his most important friendship. He was sorely tempted by that option until the choice was taken completely out of his control.

Slate had returned, "I think the young lad was asking you out on a date."

"Oh." Pyrrha's blush was back in full force. If he wasn't so stressed out about how she was going to respond he might have once again marvelled about how much he liked making her do that, but he was sure his own face was probably as red as hers, "I… I'd like that."

Harry smiled back in response, his brain trying to catch up with what had just happened.

"Anyway, like I said before, the cloak should be done tomorrow by closing time. Just bring the receipt and your money with you."

* * *

Soon after leaving the shop, Harry and Pyrrha had found a nice quiet cafe to grab some lunch. Though they soon fell into an awkward silence, as if the mere fact that they were on an acknowledged date had suddenly added all of this extra pressure. Realizing how foolish this was, Harry pushed to steer their conversation back to it's normal ease. Luckily it was soon back on track, as if nothing had ever been amiss.

"So how are holding up?" Pyrrha asked after their meal was taken away.

"What do you mean?" Harry was suddenly feeling a little defensive. He recognized the look in his partners eye. It was the same one Hermione had been giving him the whole past year, especially after his detentions with Umbridge.

"Well I mean, you've basically stranded in a foreign world away from everyone you know. I just wanted to check on how you're doing? I know you're probably missing your friends."

His first instinct was to tell her that he was fine and to leave it at that, but that all went out the window the moment he saw the concern in her bright green eyes. He knew she wouldn't believe him if he told her that and it would probably only make her worry more. "I'm doing ok I guess. I do miss Ron and Hermione a lot, probably more than I let on. They were the only ones there for me for five years. I miss the others I got to know better last year to. Neville, Luna, and Ginny. I wish I'd gotten to know them better earlier than I did." Harry thought he saw her face tighten slowly at Ginny's name but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why… it's not like they'd ever met each other. Deciding he must be seeing things he brushed it out of his mind. "I miss Hogwarts itself a bit as well. It was the first place I'd ever considered home in my whole life. Beacon has a similar feel but it's not quite the same… not old enough. Apart from that I don't miss much. Definitely not my relatives, my so called fans, the ministry, or being hunted down by an insane mass-murderer. Even if I somehow figured out how to go back, I don't know if I'd even want to. I like Remnant, despite the Grimm problem. I've made friends here, and I already have a career path set up."

"I'm glad you like it here. I have to admit I'm glad you found your way to Remnant, otherwise we would never have met. You'll probably always miss your friends, and they you, but nothing you can do about that."

"I know…. It's just… I can't stop thinking about how I left them all to Voldemort. I got to escape and be happy without dealing with him while they are all probably at war right now."

"Don't think like that Harry! It's not your fault you had to leave! Since when was it your responsibility to deal with this Voldemort anyway, even if you did defeat him as a baby."

"I understand… I really do understand this. I've never wanted to have to deal with Voldemort, but I doesn't stop me from worrying. It just always feels like it's my fault when bad stuff happens.

"But it's not!" She took his hand firmly within her own. "You hear me? Its. Not. Your. Fault." Nodding quickly, she smiled and released his hand with one last gentle squeeze. "Just remember you can come to me anytime you want to talk about any of this. Ok?"

"Thanks Pyrrha," he replied, voice thick with restrained emotion. "You don't know how much you've helped me these past few months. I… it… it means a lot." Clearing his throat he continued on, "Anyway, how are you feeling for the upcoming tournament?" Pyrrha's expression immediately became uneasy causing Harry to panic slightly. "Sorry! I know you probably don't want to talk about the tournament. Probably the only thing any fans have wanted to talk to you about on any passed dates."

Harry babbled on for another few seconds before his partner finally cut him off, "It's not that. We're on the same team… It's ok for us to talk about the tournament."

"What's wrong then?"

"It's just… I got a message from my mother."

"Oh?"

"Yes, she is coming to watch me perform in the tournament?"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"We did not part on the best of terms."

"Oh… do you want to… errr… talk about it?" Harry knew he was not good with this kind of thing but after listening to him earlier, this was the least he could do in return.

"Well… it's… she has always been very supportive of me my whole life, so her objections to my attending Beacon were a surprise. She was adamant that I attend Haven. When I refused, it turned into a huge argument. I was resolute in my decision to attend an academy where I was hopefully less well known. Beacon is even still considered by many to be the best in all of Remnant so I could not understand her reasoning either." Pyrrha paused for a breath before continuing, "We'd always gotten along before and never really argued over anything. The day I left… she wouldn't even see me off. It really hurt and now after all these months I don't know what I'm going to say to her."

Seeing her eyes brimming with silent tears, he quickly crossed to the other side of the table and scooted himself onto the bench beside her. A bit unsure of himself, he awkwardly tried to put his arm around her in comfort. To his relief, this seemed to be the right thing to do as she immediately buried her head into his chest. He just held her as she calmed down.

"I've obviously never met your mother but, from what you've told me, it sounds like she loves you very much. I don't know why she reacted the way she did but this might be your opportunity to mend things between the two of you. Just talk to her, and if you need me, I'll be there."

She looked up him then. Something had changed in her expression. He'd seen her look at him similarly a few times before but there was something more intense about it now. Her looking back up into his eyes was as surprisingly intimate experience, that left him knowing exactly what was coming next. The mixture of nervousness and anticipation in his gut held him frozen in place when she slowly began to bridge the gap between them. Though it felt like an eternity, it was only about two seconds before she had closed the distance between them.

Harry was never really sure what he was supposed to feel when kissing someone for the first time. He'd he'd some people talk about seeing fireworks, whatever that was supposed to mean, and that definitely had not happened when he'd kissed Cho the year before. This time was different. He still wasn't 'seeing fireworks' but this definitely not something he'd ever felt before. The feel of her soft lips brushing tentatively across his own was something he was hoping to be able to continue doing many times in the future. Harry found that his one hand had somehow found its way into her soft crimson hair while other was still wrapped around her back.

The shattering of a dropped plate across the cafe quickly brought them back to reality, reminding them that they were in fact in a very public location. Drawing back but, keeping their foreheads resting together, Harry tried to catch his breath, just realizing how fast his heart was beating from that one kiss. "Wow." Pyrrha giggled quietly. He couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face at that point, he'd never heard Pyrrha giggle before.

"I had originally asked you on this date with the intention of asking you something else as well. Now is as good a time as any I believe. Pyrrha Nikos, I wondered if you would do me the honour of accompanying me to the Vytal Tournament Dance?"

"Yes. I think that sounds splendid." She was positively beaming at him.

"Great! What do you say we go track down our teammates, and make sure Nora hasn't demolished half of the city by now."

* * *

A small chimed as the door to the shop opened. It was the day after Harry and Pyrrha's date and they were here to pick up Harry's new cloak.

"Ah, it's you two lovebirds. Just finished your order a little while ago."

Pyrrha approached the counter to pay while Harry fidgeted awkwardly behind her. He was still trying to smother his feelings around letting her pay for such an expensive purchase.

"Here ya go." He placed and opened a box onto the counter. Looking into the box, the emerald green cloak lay waiting. Pyrrha had convinced him to go with the colour as she claimed it would look good by matching his eyes. Despite his initial reservations of wearing Slytherin colours, he had to admit it looked nice.

Grabbing it out of the box he suddenly staggered under the weight.

"I was kidding when I said it would be heavy kid. Using the metallic microfibre as its base and adding dust infusions on top added on the extra pounds."

"It's ok I got it," Harry grunted. "Pyrrha can you take it just for a second? I want to try something."

"Sure." Taking it out of his arms, he relaxed for a second recovering. Though Pyrrha's arms were tense under the burden, she did not appear to be struggling. Harry knew despite his recent training, he was going have to continue working on upping his strength.

Turning his back so it blocked Slate's view of what he was about to do, he pulled his wand from of his sleeve. Tapping the cloak he imbued it with an overpowered featherweight charm. He smiled at Pyrrha's shocked look, taking it back from her arms. He slung it around his shoulders like he would any other garment and fashioned it around his neck.

"Wonderful craftsmanship Slate! I'm sure if I will be back in the future if I need any other custom work done. Have a good night." Grabbing Pyrrha's hand he started to pull her out of the store. He heard the man give a confused sounding goodbye as he obviously tried to figure out how Harry was suddenly slinging the garment around as if it was nothing.

"Is what you did permanent?" The redheaded girl asked once they were outside walking down the street,

"Unfortunately not. I don't know how to enchant objects so I just used a featherweight charm. It will wear out eventually and then I'll have to reapply it. If I had the Hogwarts library I could probably figure out how to do it permanently but I think this is as good as solution as I'll get here on Remnant. At least it's a fairly simple charm."

"Oh… that too-" Whatever Pyrrha was going to say was cut off by the sound of a large explosion in the distance. Looking towards the sound, Harry could see a large cloud smoke rising into the sky,

"That looks to be near the docks we were at yesterday. Should we do anything?"

"The police will probably be there soon but it is a hunter's job to protect the citizens…"

"Ok, let's check it out then. I have an idea… do you trust me?"

"Of course!"

"Ok." Reaching forward he grasped Pyrrha's hands firmly in his own. "I'm going to try something. If this works it's going to feel… uncomfortable." At her nod of understanding he began. Picturing clearly the docks he'd been standing on with his team and team RWBY the day before, he focused on his need to get there with Pyrrha, twisting to side the two students disappeared without a trace.

After a couple seconds of the uncomfortable feeling of being compressed into a tube, Harry and Pyrrha reappeared on the docks with a loud pop of displaced air. His partner was breathing heavily and squeezing his hand hard enough to make him wince.

"Are you ok?" She nodded in return but from the look on her face, she was not looking forward to having to that again anytime soon. He wouldn't have subjected her to it at all if their response time to the situation hadn't been so important.

It was apparent right away that whatever was going on, was happening on the industrial area of the docks. Dozen's of, what he recognized as, White Fang members were milling around. What shocked him was to see that Blake was there fighting an orange haired man with a bowler hat and a cane alongside an unknown monkey faunus. It was two on one yet Blake and her friend seemed to be losing.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _There, another chapter done. I tried to put a bit of romance onto this chapter to move along Harry and Pyrrha's relationship while also outfitting him with some new gear. I'm not sure how well the romance turned out because I'm not too experienced with writing that area but I hope it's at least deceant. As you can probably tell from the end of this chapter, we'll get some more action in the next update. Things are really going to start diverging from canon a lot more next chapter. Anyway, until then._


	9. Chapter 8: Finding Some Answers

**Chapter 8:** _ **Finding Some Answers**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Here we go everyone, another chapter is ready! This chapter also ends the events of volume 1. After this the timeline is going to starting changing drastically. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave me a review, I love hearing what you all think._

 _Also, I'm not much of an artist but I did do some of my own Harry/Pyrrha fanart for this fanfic. Check it out if you want:_

 _emeraldguardian7 deviantart com/art/The-Wizard-and-the-Grimm-HPXRWBY-Crossover-619141417_

 _(put "." where there are spaces.) This site doesn't really allow you to post links._

* * *

Harry tried to take in everything that was happening in front of him. He recognized the orange haired man almost immediately as infamous criminal Roman Torchwick. His mugshot had been shown on the news enough lately for Harry to identify him, plus his signature bowler hat and cane were not very subtle. The man had been getting an increase in publicity lately due to his ability to pull off the largest string of dust robberies in Vale's history.

Harry had heard all about the night where Ruby had fought against him, giving her early entrance to Beacon. The thing that worried him, was what Torchwick could do with the amount of dust that he'd stolen. The fact that he was obviously working with the White Fang on this and who knows how many other jobs was concerning as well. From what he'd heard about the White Fang, there was no way they would work for a human in any normal circumstances.

Harry knew the best case scenario was to stop what was going on here and capture Torchwick for questioning. This whole thing stunk of a larger plot at play and Harry was going to do his best to throw a wrench in it. The only thing stopping him from jumping in immediately was the fact that Blake and her companion were obviously losing. He had no delusions that Blake was still better with her weapon than he was with his. He knew there was no way Torchwick was going to fall to his blade so he'd have to rely on his magic once again. The problem was that this was no mindless Grimm. Harry was confident that he'd be able to easily subdue him with his powers but in the off chance that he got away, he couldn't show off his powers.

Deciding on a workable plan, he turned to his partner, "They're not going to last much longer down there, we need to help them out." He drew his blade into his left hand, ejected his wand and hid it up his left sleeve. He was very happy that they hadn't had a chance to ditch their weapons after practice today before rushing to pick up their order at the store.

At Pyrrha's nod, Harry started running. His partner must have figured out he had some kind of plan because she immediately began engaging the closest White Fang members opening up a path for him to continue running forward. It was obvious to Harry that they had even less combat training than he did as he was able to easily dispatch the few that did get in his way by smacking the pommel of his sword into their faces.

He almost blew his cover to perform a levitation charm when Torchwick tried to drop a Schnee Dust Company shipping crate on Blake's head but she was able to roll out of the way on time.

As he drew closer to the notorious criminal, he was forced to grit his teeth and pick up the pace as the sound of a Bullheads engine grew steadily louder. There was no way he was letting him get away.

Torchwick had obviously seen him a long way off. A lazy smirk on his face he shifted into a position to defend himself. Hefting his sword up higher as if preparing to strike, he was happy to see the criminals eyes tracking the blade just like he wanted.

When he was in range he swung downwards in a perfectly executed slash. Of course, this didn't stop Torchwick from blocking it easily with his cane and causing the two weapons to lock together in a classic contest of strength.

"You're going to have to better than that to take me down kid," the smirk on his face never faltering.

"Shrugging back the sleeve on his left arm and raising his wand he said, "I know. Stupefy!" As the man crumpled to the ground he took a quick breath, and then secured him in ropes with a quick "incarcerous" just to be safe. Glancing around the docks as he caught his breath he saw that Pyrrha, Blake and the unknown faunus were successfully dealing with the remaining White Fang. It seemed Ruby had also shown up sometime in the last few minutes with another unknown person who had taken down some of the Bullheads with some kind of crazy green laser.

Of course the moment that he thought everything was going well for once, was the moment he was struck from behind, sending him sprawling across the concrete. Groaning he pushed himself upwards to be met with a strange sight. A very short woman, or was it girl, he really couldn't decipher her age, with pink and brown hair was leaning over Torchwick, trying unsuccessfully to wake him.

Darting forward as soon as he had regained his feet he jabbed out with his blade, yet as soon as it should have touched her, she shattered, as if made by glass, fading away. He spotted her seconds away in a completely different location watching him inquisitively. Waving his left arm, which still had his wand hidden up his sleeve, subtly over the unconscious man, he cast a "protego," hoping it would slow this strange girl down if she tried to get away with him.

As she approached, he prepared himself by sinking into a stance Pyrrha had taught him. He was thrown off guard momentarily when he realized that her weapon was, infact, an umbrella but when the thin blade extended out of the tip, he forced himself to refocus. If she was working with Torchwick, she most likely wouldn't be an easy opponent.

He parried her first strike easily but was unprepared for the speed of her follow up. Harry was pretty sure he would be dead if her weapon hadn't skirted off his new cloak in a shower of sparks. He was definitely going to be thanking Pyrrha later. Deciding to try similar tactics to what he had done with his earlier fight, he went onto the offense, shooting a discrete tipping jinx after a few sword strikes.

To his delight it worked and he was able to land his first strike. As he moved in for his second, her image once again shattered and she reappeared, stumbling a few feet back. She looked confused over what just happened and was soon regarding him with narrowed eyes. He wouldn't be able to do that same spell again without risking the discovery of his magic. It was now apparent to him that her semblance had something to do with illusions. "Homenum Revelio" took care of that, as he was suddenly able to see the outline of her body shining over top of Torchwick, apparently trying to find a way past his shield.

Ignoring what he knew to be an illusion, he charged the girl once again. Nimbly leaping out of the way, she opened her umbrella to deflect his next blow before twirling it behind her head, the picture of innocence. Grinning suddenly at her shocked look and his sudden idea, he brought his hands together slamming his wand home into the blade as it swung through the air before him. As the tip came to point directly at her he cried, "Ventus!"

As his sudden conjured burst of wind caught on her umbrella sending her flying backwards across the pier, he laughed out loud at the millage he'd gotten recently out of this one simple spell. Harry saw her recover in the distance, but luckily for him the cops had finally arrived, sirens blaring. He knew she couldn't try anything else just yet.

* * *

"You wanted to see me Professor?"

"Yes. I thought it was prudent that we spoke about the events that took place at the docks last night, seeing as you were able to locate Miss Belladonna and were the one to apprehend Roman Torchwick."

"Right. Well, truthfully, I wasn't out looking for Blake. I wasn't even aware she was missing until I heard the whole story from Ruby after. Pyrrha and I were picking up some gear we'd had custom ordered when we heard the explosions. I was able to apparate us to the docks-"

"So you were able to recreate this mode of teleportation you told me about before? At will? That could be very useful. Tell me, can you… apparate… to somewhere you've never been?"

"I think so… the only problem is I have to know where I'm going. I couldn't apparate to a person if I don't know where they are."

"Still… I could see a lot of circumstances where that would be useful. I also see that you are able to bring someone with you?"

"Ya I brought Pyrrha, but it was harder than apparating on my own. I might be able to take a second person but I don't think I could do more than that without something going wrong. I don't know how much distance I could cover either… I don't really know much. I only know what I do because my best mates twin brothers wouldn't stop going on about it after getting their license last year."

"We'll have to experiment with this power of yours more in the future… it is always best to know the limitations on one's own abilities. Now, continue with where you left off before."

"Well… we got to the docks and it was pretty easy to see what was going on. The White Fang and Roman Torchwick were trying to take a shipment of dust from the Schnee Dust Company. Blake was there with a monkey faunus, fighting Torchwick. I realized they weren't going to win the fight and stepped in to aid them while Pyrrha held back the White Fang."

"Yes, I saw that part on the security cameras but I was unable to figure out what you did. I was wondering if you could sate my curiosity?"

"Sure! It wasn't that complicated really. I could tell after his fight with Blake that I couldn't match him with my sword, but I didn't want to risk using magic out in the open either. When I began to approach I could tell he didn't register me as much of a threat so I decided to capitalize on that, hoping he would continue to underestimate me. I charged in with my sword, as you probably saw on the footage, but that was just a distraction. When I was up close I shot a simple stunning spell from my wand which I had up my sleeve. What I wasn't expecting was that other girl to show up."

"Ah yes… it is a pity she was not captured as well but, frankly, I am just glad you escaped with your life. She may look a young girl, but whoever she is, she has left a trail of bodies behind her. To know she is working with Torchwick and now the White Fang, concerns me greatly. Whatever is going on, it is greater than a simple string of robberies, which makes the fact you were able to keep your magic hidden, even more crucial."

"You believe that Torchwick wasn't the mastermind behind all this? I was always under the assumption he was…"

"I believe that is the idea he was trying to give off… seeing as you were the one to capture him, he is temporarily in our custody, but will soon have to be passed over to the police. Unfortunately, our interrogations thus far have proven useless, as he continues to insist that he was the only one behind all of this. Nothing we have offered has given any indication that he would willingly betray his bosses, whoever they may be."

Both Harry and Ozpin lapsed into silence as he thought over what he had just learned. "It's too bad we don't have any veritaserum... " Harry mumbled to himself.

"Any what?"

"Oh… err… it's a potion from where I come from. Just a couple drops and the user is compelled to answer any questions asked truthfully until it wears off. It's used in some criminal interrogations."

Ozpin had suddenly straightened in chair looking even more serious than before, "Can you make some?"

"No… its a masters level potion and I'm not even that good in potions to begin with. Plus, I don't have the ingredients or the recipe here with me in Remnant."

The headmaster deflated slightly, "Is there any other potions… or spells that could replicate that?"

"I'm sorry… I don't really know anything that would work… I'm sure there is something else out there, I just don't know-" Harry trailed off as he started to get an idea. He didn't know any spells to replicate the effects of veritaserum but that didn't mean there wasn't another way of finding out someone's secrets. "I could always try Legilimency. I've never really practiced it before but I think I know how to do it. I think I figured out enough from my Occlumency lessons last year?"

"Legilimency? Occlumency?" Ozpin's eyebrows were raised in question.

"Sorry, legilimency is basically the ability to read someone's mind. I'm sure that my explanation is technically wrong in some way but for our purposes it's a good enough definition. Occlumency is a way to counter legilimency and protect your thoughts. I know I won't be able to overcome anyone trained in occlumency with my current skill level but luckily for us, no one here on Remnant should be trained in that talent."

Ozpin's face was impassive after Harry's explanation. "You are willing to do this?"

Harry only hesitated for a split second, "Yes."

"Good." Ozpin stood from behind his desk.

"What? Now?" Harry asked feeling a bit panicked as he would have hoped for some time to prepare.

"Yes. We will have to hand over Torchwick in a couple hours, leaving this as our last chance to find answers. The Vale police won't let us interrogate him again without proof of our suspicions, and if my suspicions are correct," he let that hang in the air or a moment. "We need to be prepared."

* * *

The cell door shut with a loud bang behind him. Harry had been surprised that Beacon actually had prison cells, but Ozpin had explained it was for this very purpose. On the rare occurrence that Hunters were involved with capturing a criminal, they sometimes had to hold them until other authorities got involved. With their advanced abilities they were sometimes used to hold rogue hunters as well.

As he entered, Harry noticed the criminal immediately immediately shooting a smug smile in his direction. That soon disappeared when he saw who it was. "Hey! You're the kid that got me locked up in here! Getting a look at you now, I'm actually embarrassed you managed to catch me in the first place. Couldn't the hunter that caught me at least looked… a little more impressive?" He gestured vaguely in Harry's direction.

Pulling a chair over from the corner, Harry sat down facing the bench Torchwick was chained to. "I'm here to talk about your employer-"

Torchwick sighed, "I don't know if I should feel insulted or not, I already told you people I'm the one in charge. Is it really unbelievable?"

Harry had to fight the urge to fidget. It was starting to seem inevitable that he would have to forcibly take the answers they needed. Trying to ignore his nerves, he responded in a calm tone, "We all know you are not the one behind this… will you tell us or is that still your final answer?"

"Even if I was lying, why would they send a scrawny brat like you in to talk to me? Do they think I would be intimidated by you just cause you got a lucky shot in on me?" Torchwick scoffed.

Harry sighed. Years of taking insults from Professor Snape allowed him to reign in his temper. Standing he approached the prisoner. Torchwick met his eyes, he had no idea what was about to happen. Pulling his wand from his sleeve, he raised his wand. Torchwick looked like he was about to make another sarcastic comment, obviously not understanding what Harry could do with his harmless looking wand.

Like the many times he'd seen Snape do it during their Occlumency lessons he cried, "Legilimens!" The onslaught of information entering his mind began immediately. Harry saw people he'd never met, places he'd never been, and things he'd never done. It all passed by at extremely fast speeds, leaving him unable to comprehend most of what he was seeing. He saw one vision of a woman in red that seemed connected to Torchwick's earlier memories of his interrogation. Trying to force the man's thoughts back to that topic only served to give him a headache and the connection broke.

As he regained his bearings a moment later, he realized he was hunched over breathing heavily, just like Torchwick who was huddled in the corner of the bench, leaning against the wall.

"What did you just do?" His voice sounded shaky for the first time since Harry had met him. Glancing over, he saw that Torchwick seemed to be avoiding his gaze. It seemed he was pretty smart after all, having picked up on that already.

"Petrificus Totalus." He stiffened in place as the spell took effect. Rearranging himself so that Harry was once more able to meet his eyes he spoke, "I need to know about your boss. Tell me who you work for." It was the only way Harry could get him to think about what he wanted without being able to direct his thought from within his mind. "Legilimens!"

As he dove into Torchwick's mind for the second time, his idea was proven correct, as he was able to see the woman in red clearly. Pushing a little harder he heard a name resonate throughout his mind, 'Cinder Fall.'

Keeping the connection active Harry spoke out loud, "I need you to tell me more about Cinder. Who is she? What are her plans?"

Immediately at his words, memories seemed to flit through the forefront of his mind. Two people were talking.

' _If you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might make my next string of robberies go a little bit smoother!'_

' _Oh Roman. Have a little faith. You'll know what you need when you need to know. Besides we're almost done with dust. We're moving onto phase two.'_

"What is phase two? What is she planning next?" Harry spoke out loud once again, barely holding back his frustration. Once again flashes flew through his head, but no clear memory. The name Mountain Glenn was prominent though, and chilling image was starting to form in his head.

Breaking the connection again, Harry also dispelled the body bind, and slumped back into the chair trying to catch his breath. From what he had figured from the flashes he'd seen, what Cinder was planning was not good news. He was happy at least that he knew what she looked like and her accomplices, the names he'd picked from Torchwick's head being Emerald and Mercury.

"What did you do to me? How did you do that?" His voice was panicked. "She's going to kill me now. No matter where I'm taken, she'll know I gave up the information, and she'll come for me!" The terror in the man's voice, no matter how despicable deeds he'd been planning, hit Harry like a punch to the gut. He felt disgusted with himself for what he'd done to the man, it felt to close to the torture Voldemort inflicted on both his enemies and his subordinates, yet at the same time Harry knew without the information he'd just gathered, thousands may die.

Taking a deep breath, Harry rose once again impassive. The man's flinch was like a slap to the face. Shaking it off he spoke, "I'm sorry, but no one can know what I just did. Obliviate!"

* * *

"Did you get the information we need?" Ozpin asked from behind his desk. They had just returned to his office and Harry allowed himself to slump down in his chair.

"Ya. I got it." Silently willing himself to sit a bit straighter for this explanation, Harry continued. "It seems the woman we are after is named Cinder Fall, or at least that's the name she uses around Torchwick. She appears to have black hair that falls past her shoulders and amber coloured eyes. From what I saw in of the memories, it appears her semblance has something to do with the ability to conjure fire. It also appears like she had dust woven into her clothes. I don't know what her motivations are as she hasn't told Torchwick much either. All I could see is that she was the one who somehow convinced the White Fang to work alongside them."

"I've never heard that name before, but a woman with dust woven into her clothing seems to match the description of the woman who fought with Torchwick against Professor Goodwitch and Ms. Rose earlier this year."

"It's probably her then. I also got a quick look at two of her accomplices. An Emerald and Mercury I believe but I'll recognize them for sure if I see them."

"Good. I trust you will let me know if you make such a sighting?"

"Of course."

"Did you get anything on their plans?"

"I did get some, but not everything. It appears the dust they have been stealing has been for a dual purpose. First as an attempt to destabilize the market which, from I've heard, it has to an extent, causing dust prices to soar. The other purpose is in the manufacture of several high power explosives." Ozpin quirked his eyebrow in question. "It seems the White Fang has recently been dispatched to an underground section of an area called Mountain Glenn. They plan to load up an abandoned subway train and, run it down the track towards Vale, setting off explosives along the way, to release trapped Grimm. When the train reaches the end of the line, the resulting crash should open the sealed passage, allowing high level Grimm direct access to downtown Vale, completely bypassing the Kingdom's defenses.

The Headmaster had paled drastically during the second half of Harry's explanation. Digesting everything he had heard he finally spoke, slowly, enunciating each word with care. "I think…. that we are very fortunate you were able to retrieve this information Harry. If such an attack were to succeed, it could be cataclysmic to the safety of Vale. Do you know if that was the extent of their plans?"

"No it isn't but unfortunately Cinder refused to share what else she is planning as of yet. I believe she has some kind of interest in the school itself and was planning on posing as visiting students with her accomplices. Whatever the final stage is, it has to do with the Vytal Tournament."

Sighing and rubbing his temple, Ozpin responded. "Yes, well, it would be the greatest upcoming target to stage an attack of some kind. I will need to think on all of this and figure out the best way to disrupt their organization. I feel I may need to call on you and your unique skills several times in the future. I am also interested in inducting you into a small organization of my own, tasked with protecting the future of Remnant. Naturally I will have speak with several of my associates first."

Harry just nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak. It sounded like the Headmaster had his own group just like Dumbledore did the Order of the Phoenix, but he would actually let him join this one.

"Excellent!" He clapped his hands together. "Now, I believe it is time I took a more active role in your training.


	10. Chapter 9: Preventative Measures

**Chapter 9:** _ **Preventative Measures**_

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Finished another chapter for you guys. This one was pretty fun to write for the most part. One of the first times that we'll focus almost exclusively on team HPRN. I hope you guys enjoy. The response to this story has been amazing! I can't believe it has almost 600 followers and 450 favorites! Last chapter we also broke 100 reviews so thank you guys so much! I love hearing all your thoughts! Please continue to let me know how I'm doing._

* * *

The bullhead hummed beneath Harry as they approached their destination. Team HPRN sat in silence, nervous for their first official mission. Normally, a mission like this would never be given to a first year team, especially without a fully qualified hunter accompanying them, but since Harry had been the one to interrogate Torchwick, Ozpin had made an exception. On top of that, the exact parameters of the mission would be nearly impossible without magic anyway. He was still amazed at the techniques the Headmaster had shown him in their short training session the other day.

* * *

" _You want to train me?"_

" _Yes, I believe you have a sufficient grasp of the basics all thanks to Miss Nikos' instruction. You just need to keep practicing what you learned so it all becomes instinctive, and the rest will come with experience. What I want to show you is something most never gain sufficient control of their aura to accomplish." Harry watched the man in confusion when suddenly he was gone. Before Harry even had a chance to blink he felt something poking him in the back. Spinning around he found himself looking down the end of Ozpin's cane._

" _Did you just apparate?" Harry gaped._

 _Lowering his cane, he just smiled and shook his head. "Draw your sword and try to land a blow." Still feeling like he was missing something he followed his instructions. "Well come on! What are you waiting for?"_

 _Not needing anymore encouragement, Harry charged and swung. He was sure he was going to hit, everything was lined up, Ozpin's cane wasn't raised, but somehow he missed. He hadn't seen the man move. "Don't just sit around!" Gritting his teeth he swung again. The same thing happened. Cursing, Harry tried again, and again… and again. He tried everything he knew. Every slash, every jab, every swipe. He started working in multiple feints trying to throw him off but nothing worked._

 _Harry saw Ozpin's stance change, and knew he was about to attack. Shifting his blade to left he prepared to deflect the blow he expected to come towards that arm when it suddenly exploded in pain. How had he been hit? He had barely even began his movement. That's when Harry understood. "I haven't just been missing! You've been avoiding it all by moving… really really fast!"_

 _The professor relaxed his posture. "Good. You figured it out."_

" _Is that what you're going to teach me to do? To move like that?" Harry grew excited. The possibilities open to him with those skills were endless._

" _Yes… I plan to help you use your aura to augment your speed as well as your reflexes. I doubt you will ever come close to approaching my speeds, but my natural skillset tends to augment that." Harry wanted to ask what Ozpin meant about that, thinking he might be referring to his semblance, but he had noticed many hunters were touchy when people asked questions on that topic, so he decided to remain silent. "Like I said earlier, most never have the control necessary to use this technique, but I believe that your control over your magic will help in that area."_

" _That sounds amazing! When can we start?"_

" _I can explain the basics to you now, but you will need to practice this on your own time. I will check in on your progress and answer any questions you may have periodically. Does that sound fair to you?" At Harry's enthusiastic nod, he continued. "You have been able to do some magic without your wand, correct?"_

" _Yes, I can do some simple spells."_

" _Walk me through how you cast a spell with that method."_

" _Well… it usually requires a lot more concentration without my wand. With my wand, unless it's something really hard or new, I don't really put much thought into it. Without my wand, I have to sort of... focus my magic into my hand first, and then cast the spell."_

" _You also have had Miss Nikos help you work on your aura as well?"_

" _Ya, it feels really similar to my magic, like you said when we first met, I think they are connected somehow, so once I was able to tell the two apart I was able to control the two separately."_

" _Good. My theory has changed slightly though. After going over the tests and energy readings from when you were in the infirmary, I believe that the wizards from your world are able to harness an external source of energy in their universe, and thankfully for you, this universe as well. The strange part is that when they channel it through their bodies, it interacts with your soul, strangely similar to using your aura. That's why, when I unlocked your aura, it allowed you to cast your magic easier without a wand. I believe the adaptations your body went under, also widened the pathways through which you channel magic. Of course, this is all conjecture, but if I am correct, you should have the ability to eventually develop a semblance separate to your magical abilities. It may be redundant depending on what it is though."_

 _Harry stared at Ozpin in shock. "I can't believe you figured all that out! Back home, wizards have had magic for as long they can remember and they have no real idea how magic works. Some of them like to claim it's created from wizards themselves, like aura, but that's not because they've actually done any tests, it's just propaganda to help support their discrimination of muggleborns."_

" _Yes, well, like I said, I'm not certain on any of this but the readings on your energy signature suggest it works in that manner." Pausing for a minute he collected himself. "Enough of that for now, you are able to discernibly manipulate your magic and your aura separately though?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Very well. Then what you will need to practice doing is focusing your aura intently on just one of your arms and holding it there. You have to allow your aura to infuse into your muscle and bones. After getting this you move on to doing the same to both your legs at the same time. This will increase both your speed and reflexes while your aura remains focused. Eventually this will become easy and require barely intention at all. I believe you will have no problem calling your aura there initially, but holding it steady may cause you some problems. If you enfuse too little, or too much, or if it fluctuates too much, you will have to deal with explosive outbursts of aura. Either way, it will probably be draining. When you have accomplished this, and only when you have accomplished this, you will start practice on focusing it around your head. This will eventually help your brain keep up with the quick motions of your body. Trust me, if you try that part too early you will be dealing the worst migraine of your life."_

* * *

"Entering Mountain Glenn. Sixty seconds to drop point." Harry was shaken out of his thoughts by the pilot's announcement over the intercom. He had tried some practice of what the Headmaster had shown him a couple nights earlier, yet just like he had said, summoning his aura to where he wanted was easy, and holding it steady was the hard part. Luckily for him, this new technique wasn't needed for the mission.

The side hatch opened, which was immediately felt by the bullhead's occupants as the wind picked up. Stepping up to the edge first, Harry cast a cushioning charm on the ground below them, though it probably wasn't necessary for the height.

"Let's go." Stepping out of the aircraft, Harry fell towards the ground, landing in a crouch.

"Woah! That was a softer landing than I expected!" Nora was shifting her weight from foot to foot, staring at the ground curiously.

Harry gave her a small grin twirling his wand between his fingers. "Just a simple cushioning charm."

"Your magic is so awesome!" Nora giggled jumping onto Harry's back as if expecting a piggyback ride.

"Thanks… Nora," he grunted under the unexpected weight.

"Nora! Get off his back, we talked about this. You can't just jump on people… or Grimm." Ren was probably thinking of her infamous trip on the back of an Ursa. "You need to ask first."

"Ok…" she pouted, letting go.

"Are you all good with the plan?" They all nodded. "Good. Our main objective with this is stealth. I'll be applying disillusionment charms and silencing charms to each of you then. Since we all know what to look for, you should be able to make each other out. Stay close. I'll remove the silencing charms once our cover is blown anyway." He cast the silencing charms first, then one by one, he tapped his wand over his teammates head, watching as they slowly began to blend into their backgrounds. He gave Pyrrha's hand a reassuring squeeze as he finished with her before applying the same charms to himself, experiencing the strange sensation similar to cracking an egg over his head.

Harry started heading down the street towards the area where he knew the base to be located. He periodically checked over his shoulder to make sure everyone was still there, even though they just appeared as blurs in the air. Any Grimm they came across, Harry a wide berth. He was pretty sure they would be able to sense them if they got close enough, even with his charms.

Just as he started to worry that he was lost, Harry saw the abandoned building he recognized from Torchwick's mind. This whole place was pretty creepy, with no people around in years, everything had begun to crumble. He was able to locate the door they needed quickly and, excited at his success, proceeded to open it without a thought. The loud screech the rusted hinges made in protest this movement, had him cursing for not silencing the door first.

"Who's there?" A gruff voice called from down the stairwell. Stepping back quickly, he stood completely still beside the doorway. Heavy footsteps made their way quickly upwards. As the Faunus exited into the room, he gazed around for the intruder leaving his back open to Harry. Raising his wand, the Faunus suddenly sniffed the air and spun towards him. "Stupefy!" The red light shot towards him before he could react. He staggered on impact, but, to Harry's surprise, didn't go down. The Faunus wasn't wearing a mask and from his horn, appeared to be some kind of rhinoceros.

Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, the faunus charged. Harry snapped off a bombardment curse in his direction. This had more effect as he was blasted backwards, but was still back on his feet in seconds and starting his charge all over. Harry panicked trying to think of another spell to try that wasn't potentially lethal. He knew his options were limited, especially with the lack of mobility available inside. Before he had made up his mind, the Faunus was smacked to side with even more force revealing a grinning Nora hefting her warhammer Magnhild.

He dispelled the silencing charms in the room with a wave of his wand. "Thanks Nora."

"No problem fearless leader!" She chirped. "I do accept payment in pancakes though."

"Harry! Why didn't your spell work on him." Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to jump. Only her and Ren still had their disillusionment charms intact and he hadn't seen her approach. He dispelled them with another wave of his wand.

"I had a friend back on Earth who was a half-giant, so he was very big compared to most people. Thicker skin too. It had the side effect of making him very magically resistant. I'm not really sure what kind of Faunus he is, but-"

"Actually, from what I can see, I believe he is a Rhinoceros Faunus. The singular horn on their forehead is quite distinctive for their kind." Ren interjected.

"Thank you Ren. That was actually my first idea as well. Anyway, I believe it may be a similar situation to the friend I just told you about. It's not that my magic didn't work but more that it didn't really affect him. My stunning spell did stagger him slightly, but to most people that would completely knock them out. My bludgeoning curse, which just creates a physical force, worked. Nora's hit just had a bit more… kick to it."

"What are we going to do with him then?" His partner asked.

"Incarcerous!" The unconscious Faunus was bound tightly in ropes. "I should've just tried this in the first place when he attacked me.

"Do you think that will hold him if he wakes?"

"I have to agree with Pyrrha. With the strength he displayed earlier, I believe he may be able to easily break through those." Ren was looking at their captive contemplatively.

"Fine. Let me try something." Harry crouched down beside him. He remembered reading about a spell similar to the one he'd cast that conjured chains instead of ropes That would have been perfect, but he unfortunately had never tried it and could not remember any of the instructions in the book. That's when he got another idea. Twirling his wand over the ropes in an intricate pattern over the ropes. Nothing happened. Growling in frustration, he visualized what he wanted clearly in his mind and cast the spell. The ropes changed colour slightly, and gained a slight lustre but that was all. Resisting the urge to hurl his wand across the room, he took a deep breath, and tried for a third time, this time pushing more magic into it. The ropes turned to steel. Pumping his fist, Harry stood with a grin. He'd heard from many people over the years how his father had been a transfiguration prodigy, but it had never come easy to him. Sure his grades had been decent enough, but it didn't come with the same ease of most charms or new defensive spells.

"Oooo shiny!" Nora announced after looking at what had made Harry so excited.

"What did you do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well I wanted to conjure to some steel chains to replace the ropes, but I don't know how to do that spell. Then I remembered a task we had to do in transfiguration last year. We were given a wooden block and had to transfigure it into different materials. I decided to apply that here. It has the same shape and structure of the rope from before, but now its steel."

"Transfiguration?"

"Oh, sorry Ren. It's a branch of magic and a required course in school. It's basically turning one thing into another. It's not very exciting in the beginning. In first year, we were just turning matchsticks into needles. The really cool stuff doesn't come until the higher years." Ren nodded in thanks.

"I can't believe he was able to smell you though!"

"That's a good point Nora." Pyrrha was looking between the unconscious Faunus and Harry thoughtfully. "We never thought of that before. Is there anything you can do to mask that?"

"Err… not that I know of." Harry ran his fingers through his hair distractedly as he searched for a solution.

"We'll just have to be careful then. We'll have to hit them before they notice." Ren cautioned. "Even if they do smell us, they probably will be confused if they can't see us. This one was already looking for an intruder at the time."

"That's a good point. Let me recast all our charms, then we'll continue on."

A few minutes later the group was again on the move, slowly descending the staircase in silence towards the abandoned underground city. They didn't meet anyone else until entering the large underground cavern where the majority of the work was being done. It seems they had only left one person upstairs to make sure their entrance was not discovered.

Their first objective was to subdue the White Fang workers as quickly as possible, taking advantage of the element of surprise. They wouldn't be expecting a team of hunters to have infiltrated their base. Moving into their preplanned positions, Harry began counting down in his head. When he reached zero he began casting.

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!" The Faunus in front of him dropped to the ground unconscious and bound. The rest of his team had similar luck, knocking out the surprised workers. Harry followed behind, binding them after his teammates finished with them. Each of them had already dealt with three or four each before the rest of the room had even realised what was going on. That's when the shouting started.

Harry hadn't been worried about his team dealing with the low level White Fang left to guard and work the tunnel, but he knew, if Ozpin's plans were to stay intact, he couldn't let any of them escape, so when he saw a group of the workers running towards the subway tunnel, he cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier. "Confringo!" There was a large explosion over top of the tunnel, as stone came tumbling down essentially sealing off the passage. It seems he'd completed one of his tasks early.

A moment later, another problem presented himself as he spied one of the workers, cowering behind the train, and dialing on his scroll. He was either going to call in for reinforcements or further instructions. Harry couldn't allow that. "Accio Scrolls!" He decided to go for all of them so someone else didn't get the same idea. When upwards of 30 scrolls came pelting his way, including those of his teammates, he decided that may not have been the smartest idea.

The battle was finished quickly after that. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora did most of the fighting, Harry just hung back binding the enemies when needed.

"What happened to our scrolls? It went flying out of my pocket in the middle of the fight. I was so distracted they almost got the upperhand?"

"Ya, about that… sorry guys. I got a little overeager with my spell work. You'll have to dig through all of those to find yours." Harry pointed towards the pile of devices.

"We'll have to search through all of those?" Nora sounded exasperated.

"Well I guess I could always try this. Accio Nora's scroll." The pile shifted as a singular device flew towards him and landed in his outstretched hand. "I guess that worked." Two 'accios' later, his teammates were reunited with their scrolls.

"Should we do anything with all of them yet?" Pyrrha asked motioning towards their captives.

"Not yet. Let's take care of everything else first, and then worry about moving them." Jogging over towards the train, Harry started blasting the wheels off with magic before varnishing them. After that was complete, and some overpowered cutting charms later, Harry was staring at the engine of this beast of a machine. He was happy to note after some experimentation, that the engine and surrounding wiring did not react well to a conjured flame directed at them and sustained over several minutes.

"Harry! I found the dust." Pyrrha voice called to him, drawing them all over to a door that led to a small antechamber. The front area looked like a small scientific laboratory. He could see specifications for the dust powered bombs Harry knew, from Torchwick's mind, that they were planning to build. A quick "incendio" took care of that. Behind that was where the dust was stored. Harry had known they had stolen a lot, especially with the effects it was having on the dust market in Vale, but to see it all, actually in person was staggering.

Ren pulled out a couple of cases they had brought with them, while Harry began the mind numbing task of shrinking the crates all down, and putting them away. He cast featherweight charm on the cases before Ren picked them up. He knew it should last until they arrived back at Beacon seeing as the charm he'd cast on his new cloak had only needed to be reapplied once in the last week.

"Now, time for the hard part." Returning to where their captives were slumped unconscious, Harry noticed one that he was sure he'd seen issuing orders earlier. Dragging him off to the side he checked that his bindings were still secure before enervating him.

As soon as he woke, Harry could see the panic on the Faunus' face. He didn't blame him really, he knew what it was like to wake up bound, thinking back to that horrible night in the graveyard when Voldemort had regained his body. He crouched down level with the prisoner. "I need to know which one of you is responsible for reporting in your progress down here to your boss."

"I won't tell you anything," the Faunus spat. Harry sighed, it looks like he was going to have to try some more intimidation. He only wanted to have to use legilimency again as a last resort.

"Torchwick said much the same thing, and was a much better liar. He spilled all his secrets to me in the end though." Harry hated being like this, it went completely against his nature. He had to pretend he was acting a part just to get through it.

The Faunus, if possible, paled even further, but still looked defiant. "I don't care what that disgusting human did-"

Harry stood, cutting him off. He wandlessly conjured a small breeze with his left hand that flowed through his cloak and ruffled his hair. His wand was in his other hand, glowing brightly as he pumped a little magic into it. The faunus just sneered.

Pumping aura into his arm like Ozpin had shown him, his hand shot out, unnaturally fast, grabbing the Faunus by his shirt, picking him up, and throwing him backwards so he slid across the floor. That was about the extent he could do with the new skills the Headmaster had taught him, if he had try to hold it any longer he would have lost his grip on his aura. The move itself wouldn't hurt the Faunus, but would hopefully throw him off balance and help with the intimidation factor he was aiming for.

"I can ask anyone else here and give them a chance to answer, but I thought I would be generous enough to give you the first opportunity." With a wave of his wand, a circle of flames sprung up around his downed foe, "So… do you have anything to say?"

"H-how are y-you doing this?" The Faunus' voice was trembling.

"That is none of your concern. Now, I will ask one last time. Who is in charge of reporting back your progress to your boss?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, but hurriedly began talking as soon as Harry raised his wand again. "Me! It's me! I'm the one who reports in about our progress." Harry had to fight the urge to smirk. He'd been right about this one seeming to be in charge here. He lazily waved his wand dispelling the flames.

"See, that wasn't so hard. Now, go find your scroll."

"What?"

"Go. Find. Your. Scroll." Harry motioned towards the pile he'd made earlier with his summoning charm.

"Ok! Ok! On it." He scurried over nervously, digging through the pile of devices for a few moments. "Here it is! I found it."

"Stupefy." The faunus slumped towards the ground once again, but Harry managed to accio the scroll he retrieved before it hit the ground. As soon as it was in his hands, he slumped against the nearby wall feeling exhausted. None of the magic he'd used during the mission had been particularly draining, it was more a mental tiredness from having to act like this. He couldn't wait till they had finished taking this Cinder down. Her plans needed to be stopped no matter what, but Harry disliked the methods they had to employ. He wasn't cut out for this kind of subterfuge.

"Woah! Harry, you were like… really scary!" Despite her words, Nora couldn't sound more thrilled by the prospect.

"Are you doing ok?" Pyrrha laid a comforting hand on his shoulder but he just pulled her into a hug. He didn't care that her armor wasn't that conducive to physical contact, simply her presence helped give him the boost he needed to finish the mission.

"Ya, I'm fine." She pulled away obviously not believing him. "I just needed that. We'll talk later."

Stepping back he knelt beside the Faunus he'd been interrogating minutes before, once again. Concentrating on everything that had happened since they'd invaded the underground base he cast, "Obliviate." Then looking back at the Faunus' scroll, that he was still holding, he cast both the confundus and compulsion charms on it and put it back in it's owner's pocket.

"What's that?" It was Ren asking this time.

"I cast a confundus and compulsion charms on his scroll. It should compel him to go about his daily life after he wakes up. Every time he is supposed to contact to his bosses, this should also make him report that everything is going according to plan, and if by some chance we're found out, it should compel him to report that fact to a special phone line that Professor Ozpin set up." Ren nodded. "Now, Pyrrha, can you call ahead to the transport bullhead waiting on standby and let them know we are on our way to the extraction point. Ren, I need you too keep ahold of all the dust until we get there. Nora, I'll need absolute focus to be able to levitate all of the remaining prisoners out of here at once, so I'll need you to watch all our backs and take care of any situations that may arise." At all there nods he continued on, "Ok. Let's head out."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _I know I took some liberties with the confundus charm in this chapter, but the only other way I could think of accomplishing what I wanted was for Harry to use the Imperius curse. At this time I don't think Harry would use an unforgivable when he planned it out ahead of time, so I had to improvise. The only time he tried one so far was on Bellatrix and that was after she'd killed Sirius. When he used the Imperius in Gringotts in canon, he was almost two years older than he is here and lived through a lot worse stuff in the war. I just don't feel it is in character for him._

 _ **EDIT:** Thanks to **Fenerath** for the idea to help me figure out the confundus / compulsion charm issue._


	11. Chapter 10: Targets Acquired

**Chapter 10:** _ **Targets Acquired**_

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Another chapter done. Things are moving ahead. Some of the major plot points I was excited for, are beginning to happen. I hope you all enjoy this! Please let me know how I'm doing in the reviews. I'm humbled by the comments I've gotten and response to this story. Almost 500 favorites and over 600 follows!_

* * *

Harry thought he'd finally stop being so surprised by his partner and girlfriend, Pyrrha Nikos. Even now, he was still impressed by her talent, gained from years of practice and experience, as she'd told him about. He had still yet to see anyone who matched the grace of her movements. Sure, Professor Ozpin was amazing, on a whole other level entirely, but he had not seen him in an actual fight yet. He figured if he did, it would be reminiscent of watching Dumbledore and Voldemort fight.

He was currently having these thoughts, as he sat in combat class. Pyrrha was in a match against the whole of team CRDL, and though it was four on one, she was handling them easily. It had been about a week since team HPRN had returned from their first mission. So far things seemed to be going well. Torchwick had been turned over to the police, and from what he'd heard, his Obliviation seemed to hold properly. No news from their enchanted source amongst the enemy was good news as far they were concerned. Ozpin had been keeping track of the Faunus and it seemed his spells on the scroll were holding, and no one had gone to check on Mountain Glenn yet. The White Fang they had captured had also been turned over to the police discreetly, as to not tip off Cinder.

"And that's the match," Professor Goodwitch's voice rang out through the room as Pyrrha finished taking out Cardin, CRDL's leader, with a particularly impressive flip through the air that finished with Cardin slammed into the ground. It seemed he was grumbling about something, but Harry couldn't hear what was said. "Well done Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

"Thank you professor," Pyrrha responded. Harry couldn't help but wonder if Goodwitch actually ever doubted that Pyrrha would qualify in the first place. She'd already won several of the regionals over the years.

"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" Harry would have considered it, but he really wanted a chance to relax and watch some matches with Pyrrha. "Miss Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes." He was pretty sure he knew why that was. He'd also noticed Blake acting odd ever since their encounter with Torchwick. He'd heard through the grapevine, well from his team who'd overheard it from RWBY, that she was former White Fang. "Why don't you-"

"I'll do it," a new voice cut in. Harry didn't recognize it.

"Mercury is it?" Harry froze. Ozpin must not have informed Goodwitch of the names to watch out for. He tried to relax. He couldn't turn to stare at him now, he didn't want to raise suspicion. "Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I want to fight… her." He was pointing at Pyrrha. He could see it out of the corner of his eye. Something inside of him erupted. One of Cinder's top lieutenants had invaded Beacon and was pretending to be a student. It was all to further their master plan that, though he didn't know the details of, was supposed to end with the deaths of hundreds of civilians. Now, said person was taking a special interest in his girlfriend. He was not going to allow that. He knew Pyrrha could look after herself, but this guy was a killer. He wasn't going to let him take a shot at her, especially if she didn't know what was coming for her.

"Me?" Pyrrha looked surprised.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished a match, I'd recommend you choose another partner." Goodwitch looked annoyed. He wanted to hug her. A quick glance at Pyrrha showed her about to speak. Knowing her, she'd accept the challenge anyway. He surged to his feet.

"I'll take you challenge instead!" He looked Mercury in the eye. The disdain on his face made Harry grit his teeth. It reminded him many of the purebloods back on Earth.

"I want to try myself against the so called Invincible-Girl, not some pipsqueak like you." He started to turn back towards Pyrrha, as if dismissing him.

"Oh I see, you probably can't be seen losing to me, at least a loss to Pyrrha would be acceptable and expected." Harry was taking a risk here, he hoped he judged him right.

It appears he did, as Mercury spun back around, eyes narrowed. It seems their little criminal had a bit of an ego. He thought he saw a flash of recognition pass through his eyes, but he passed it off as his imagination. "Fine, if you want to lose so bad, I guess I can take some time out to do it this time."

They both exited the stands and entered the ring. Goodwitch didn't look amused by their little spat in the stands but didn't say anything. Pyrrha gave him an unreadable expression as he passed her. He wasn't sure if she was angry that he'd stepped in to take the challenge or was just worried for him. Much like himself, he knew she worried about his safety a lot despite knowing about his many powers. They were actually remarkably similar in that way.

Harry was happy he had his weapon with him, so he wouldn't have to go fetch it from his locker. He unsheathed his sword, wand already stowed in the hilt from earlier, and watched his opponent, noticing that he didn't bring a weapon nor did he move to retrieve one.

"What? Not going to use a weapon?"

"Don't need one to deal with you."

"If you two are done trading insults, we can get started." At their silence, Professor Goodwitch continued on. "This match will follow standard tournament rules. The first who is pushed out of the arena, has their aura reduced into the red zone or falls unconscious loses the match. 3… 2…. 1…. begin!"

Mercury started running towards him immediately and swung his leg up in a high kick. This was easily deflected off his blade, as he shifted to the side. Harry tried to use this as an opening with his own strike, but Mercury was too fast, as he dodged backwards out of the way.

The following moments left Harry reeling as the flurry of high and low kicks came faster and faster, barely being deflected in time. He jumped backwards drawing a shield charm along the ground as he did so, even if it left him a little off balance. Obviously trying to capitalize on this by charging forward, he slammed face first into the invisible barrier.

Having recovered successfully, Harry led the charge this time, dispelling the shield with his off hand as he did. The slightly stunned Mercury tried to throw a big kick as he approached, but Harry had been expecting that.

He was trying something else, he'd been practicing, for the first time in battle. As soon as he'd started running ,he'd started charging up a stunning spell in his left hand. If you looked closely it was even possible to see the red glow. He caught Mercury's leg with that hand and released the spell. Nothing happened. Confused, Harry didn't react in time as his other leg came up and smashed into his chest, sending him flying backwards. He was just lucky he didn't land outside the ring.

Getting to his feet, he noticed a sizable chunk of his aura was gone from that last hit. His opponent was already coming his way. A discreet wandless tripping jinx didn't have any effect either. Cursing he just dodged to the side in time.

"Stupefy," his blade was infused with pulsating red energy that looked similar to when Weiss used red dust on her weapon. He wasn't sure why his earlier spells hadn't worked, but he was sure if he landed a direct hit with his sword it would.

The following few minutes passed with a flurry of strikes exchanged between the two combatants. His sword had struck against his legs several times, but none of the magic seemed to take hold. It wasn't until he finally got lucky after using a particular feint he'd been practicing with Pyrrha earlier in the week, that his sword connected with Mercury's arm, and the criminal went down.

Harry stepped back and waited. Glancing at the board he saw that Mercury's aura was nearly completely full, while his own was significantly lower, though still above halfway.

"Harry Potter wins by knockout!" Goodwitch announced. He could hear the whispering starting already, trying to figure out how he'd done it. He cast a quick ennervate as he passed by Mercury on the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?" The angry exclamation tore through the hall making Harry pause and glance back. Mercury was glaring at him hatefully.

"Mr. Black! We do not tolerate that kind of language during lessons here at Beacon! If I hear it again I will have no choice but to bring it up with your Headmaster." Curiously, Harry noticed him go oddly still at that comment. Harry was pretty sure that he was realizing if that happened that the teacher in question wouldn't recognize him as a student of their academy.

"Ya ok fine. Won't do it again or whatever." His mildly aloof persona was back.

Harry saw Professor Goodwitch start to seeth at the lack of respect shown, but she didn't comment further and turned back to the rest of the class. "That's all for today. You are dismissed."

"Emerald, let's go." Mercury was losing the battle to keep the scowl off his face. Harry's eyes locked onto the green haired girl in question. He recognized her from Torchwick's mind as well. She didn't seem too pleased with her partner if her glare was any indication. This was the perfect opportunity. He needed to follow them.

"You did well Harry. Were you injured at all?" Pyrrha had approached him. He didn't have time to do this right now.

"Thanks Pyrrha. I'm fine. Sorry… there's something I've got to do really quick. Can we chat a little bit later? Oh… can you take my sword for me too? Thanks!" Then barely waiting for a response he set off. He knew he would have a lot to answer for later. If she wasn't angry before, she would most definitely be after brushing her off like that, but he couldn't waste this chance.

Hurrying into the hall, he cast disillusionment and silencing charms on himself. Catching up with the pair, he stayed close behind them as they walked.

"What were you thinking Mercury! That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do! I hope you're ready to face Cinder." Mercury, who had been looking extremely petulant when Emerald started talking, looked legitimately worried by the end. Harry could care less though… Cinder was here! He needed more information.

He followed them in silence as they entered the wing that had been set aside for the visiting students. Finally stopping at a door, near the end of the hall, they knocked. A few moments later, the door was opened by a woman he recognized immediately, though Cinder Fall was dressed very differently than how he'd seen in Torchwick's memories. Probably part of the disguise.

He hurried in the door behind the other two, before it closed, but for a second he thought he saw her eyes rove over the space he'd occupied seconds earlier. He'd have to be careful, disillusionment charms were not infallible unlike his old invisibility cloak back on Earth.

Seeing Cinder in person, he had to admit that she was attractive, in that whole forbidden fruit kind of way. Her whole being exuded an aura of sensuality, though he had a feeling that any who got taken in by her charm would soon find themselves in mortal peril.

"How did the class go? Is there anything of interest to report? Did you go forward with the plan?"

All were silent for a moment before Emerald spoke, "Mercury messed it up!"

"Oh?" Cinder's tone of voice sounded amused though her eyes were narrowed on the grey haired teen. Mercury was glaring at Emerald.

"He tried to challenge Pyrrha Nikos like we talked about, except she'd just finished a 1v4 match. Some other kid challenged him instead when Goodwitch made an issue of it. It only took a couple insults from the kid for Mercury to agree, then he lost. Pretty sure it wasn't on purpose either. Then he drew attention to all of us, and the wrath of Goodwitch when he lost his temper. She said she would be in contact with our Headmaster if he stepped out of line again, which obviously could blow our cover."

The woman's gaze had slowly turned toward Mercury as Emerald spoke. Harry could see him gulp.

"Is this true Mercury," Cinders voice was slow and calm, but reeked of danger.

"Partially. I didn't accept his challenge because he insulted me." He shot another glare at Emerald. "On second glance I recognized it was that Potter kid. You know, the one that took down Torchwick and fought Neo to a standstill. The same one we could barely find any intel on. I figured I would avoid making a scene by accepting his challenge, and gain some much needed information."

"I see… and did you gather any information about him? Was there a reason for aggravating Goodwitch?"

Mercury flushed, "I could barely get anything off of him. He's not that great a swordsman. He's got skill and potential, but his movements seem stiff and overly rehearsed, I don't think he's comfortable with a sword yet."

"And yet... you lost?"

Harry couldn't help but feel proud when he saw Mercury grit his teeth. "Yes. I lost. It has to be his semblance. It's the only way he could have pulled off a win."

"So you figured out what it is?"

"No," Mercury spit out.

"Let me get this straight. You broke from the plan and fought a different opponent, lost to said opponent, and yet gained no useful information from the experience." Cinder's voice had a dangerous edge to it.

"You don't understand! It didn't make any sense. At one point it seemed he made some kind of invisible force field with his aura that I ran into, but he seemed to try some kind of completely different aura technique later, but it didn't seem to work, probably because it was on my legs." Mercury lifted his pant leg slightly as he said this, shocking Harry who saw the smooth metal. It all made sense now! Why his stunning spell had no effect. It wouldn't work on robotic limbs like that. "In the end, it appeared that he infused his sword with red dust, yet none of his attacks had any kind of explosive or fire effects. When he finally landed a lucky hit on my upper body, I immediately passed out, and didn't wake up till a few minutes later."

Cinder had calmed slightly during the explanation but still looked perturbed, "That is remarkably similar to Neo's report from the docks. She never saw what Mr. Potter did, but she said Torchwick just crumpled to the ground unconscious. Still, your work today was sloppy. I'm assuming whatever your outburst was that drew Goodwitch's ire, was related to losing to Potter. I expect you'll be more discreet in the future. We can not afford to have people poking into our cover. Continue to find out what you can about Potter. Emerald, perhaps you should challenge Nikos next time and we'll see what we can find out. I still believe she is the one Ozpin will choose as his guardian. Now, leave me, I have things to do."

Harry began to slowly make his way over towards the door, intent on following the two others out. "What about the plans for this weekend during the dance? You said earlier you had things to fill us in on?" Harry froze, this sounded important.

"Ah yes... I almost forgot." Harry could obviously tell she was torn between irritation about them not leaving and the need to tell them the information. She sighed, "This weekend you two will attend the dance together." She cut off their complaints with a single look. "You will watch the key figures of interest, and report to me if any of them are seen leaving the dance. I will spend this time infiltrating the CCT tower. There, I will make sure to install our little friend into the system." At this she inclined her head towards her scroll. "I will change outfits then enter the dance and join the crowd. I will partner with Mercury and both of you will inform people I was there the whole time, if asked. Is that clear?"

Harry's head was spinning. He didn't know much about computers, but whatever Cinder was planning to install in the CCT must be some kind of virus. He knew the CCT pretty much connected everything across Remnant, so whatever they were planning could only be bad.

He missed whatever the two said back to Cinder, but managed to follow them out of the room without getting caught. He needed to report to Ozpin.

* * *

The elevator dinged as the doors opened to Ozpin's office. He paused momentarily as he realized the Headmaster seemed to be in a meeting with Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood. He knew the General had just arrived recently with the students from Atlas, as well as what appeared to be the majority of the Atlesian Military. It was a daunting sight, seeing all of the warships flying around Beacon.

"Ah Harry. Come in. We were just finishing." The Headmaster's voice rang out. He slowly approached the desk as the other filed out, receiving a nod from both of them. When they were gone, Ozpin spoke again, "Was there something you needed? Has something happened?"

"Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black are in the building and posing as students from Haven."

Ozpin paused mid-sip of his coffee, "Are you sure?"

"Completely. Mercury wanted to duel Pyrrha in class today, but I managed to manipulate him into a match with me. He is very good, but I was able to win with a few subtle tricks. His colourful language after his loss earned the ire of Professor Goodwitch as well. I realized this was a good chance to learn more, and I was able to infiltrate their meeting with Cinder without being detected."

"Did you come across any valuable information during the meeting?"

"Yes a lot actually. First of all, they still have no idea about my magic. They believe some of the stuff I have done is to do with my semblance, but they have no idea what it is."

"That is good news. The longer they are in the dark about your powers, the longer they cannot effectively plan countermeasures for it."

"Yes I realized how true that was today. As I said, Mercury was clearly more skilled than I in a physical fight, but since he didn't know what I could do, I was able to outmaneuver him. The second thing I learned is that Mercury has two robotic prosthetic legs. I believe I saw some kind of gun attached to the feet or ankles." Ozpin nodded at this, and added something to a file on his computer. "I found the next bit interesting. Other than instructing them to try to gather more information on me, Cinder told them to work harder on figuring out Pyrrha's abilities as you were most likely to choose her as your… guardian." Harry let that hang in the air, the silence growing thick between them. Harry didn't like the idea that Ozpin had some kind of plan for his girlfriend without her knowledge.

"I see, I wasn't aware that they had that information. Don't worry Harry. I will share the meaning behind all of this soon enough, but not yet." Harry hand clenched into a fist, knuckles whitening. He was suddenly reminded of several conversations he'd had with Dumbledore in the past. Especially when he'd asked about why Voldemort was after him at the end of first year. He was certain now it was to do with that prophecy Voldemort had been after in the Department of Mysteries.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax. Even if Ozpin was suddenly acting like his old Headmaster, at least the both of them had never lead him astray, and he was certain had both always acted in his best interest. "And Pyrrha. When you tell me, you'll tell Pyrrha too. It's her life."

The older man watched him for a few moments as if evaluating him, but eventually nodded his acceptance. "And Miss Nikos. Now, was there anything else?"

"Yes, the next part is probably the most important. Cinder is planning on infiltrating the CCT this weekend during the dance and installing some kind of virus onto the system. Emerald and Mercury are attending the dance under their cover while keeping watch of the attendees. Cinder is supposed to join them when she was done, and pretend she had been there the whole time."

Ozpin looked deep in thought before giving a slight, rare, smile, "I believe this gives us the perfect opportunity to set a trap."

* * *

Harry entered his team's dorm room feeling exhausted. The stress of the day had left him drained. He picked up on the tension in the air as soon as walked in. With everything that had happened, he'd almost forgot his interaction with his partner earlier. She was currently cleaning up around her bed and desk, face not showing any emotion. Trying to figure out what he was going to say, he barely noticed Ren and Nora edging their way out of the room.

"Hey, Pyrrha." She didn't answer. He winced. "I'm sorry about earlier-" She turned around eyebrow raised. "I can explain."

"You can?"

"Well… sort of."

She furrowed her brow and her anger seemed turn into a look of confusion and sadness. "Is something wrong? I was the only one you told about your past before, but after we started dating, right after you took down Torchwick, you've been acting odd. You seem a little nervous and jumpy. You didn't answer any of our questions about how our team got that mission that no normal first year team would get. Then there was today in class! I know you're protective of those you care about because of your past, but today you pretty much got into a fight with that transfer student because he challenge me to a match. To top it all off you ditched me with your weapon and then disappeared for the rest of the day." Pyrrha was starting to sound more and more upset. "Did I do something wrong?" She added quietly at the end, as she sat down on her bed.

Sitting beside her he took her hand, "You haven't done anything wrong. We got some… information... from Torchwick before he was handed over to the police. That led to Professor Ozpin assigning me to work on a special project for him. That's why we got the mission we did and why I've been acting strange lately. I'm not allowed to say anything about it yet, but I promise I will be able to tell you soon. All I can promise you is that it's really important. Can you accept that for now?"

She looked him in the eye for a moment, obviously thinking through what he'd just said. "I trust you. If you say it's important, I believe you. I expect you'll tell me as soon as you're able to?"

"Of course."

"Then, were good." She gave him a smile, before leaning forward and giving him a tender kiss. As they broke apart, he pulled her tight against his chest. Falling backwards onto the bed, they cuddled together. Pyrrha's red hair was out of it's ponytail and was splayed across the bed. Everytime he saw her like this he was surprised about how long her hair really was. He loved it.

Lost in the moment, neither heard the door open. "Hey Ren, I think they're done arguing- AWWWWWWW! SO CUTE!" The flash of a Scroll camera lit up the room.

"Hey!" Harry protested, him and his girlfriend going red from embarrassment. Even as he tried to splutter out a coherent sentence at their tiny teammate, Harry couldn't help but feel that this was how life was supposed to be. He may not have been born on this world, but it was definitely now his home.


	12. Chapter 11: Plan Plan Deterioration

**Chapter 11:** _ **Dance Dance Infiltration? More like: Plan Plan Deterioration**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Finally finished another chapter for you guys. Sorry for the wait. I got caught up working on a few oneshots and other ideas I had. This is one of the other chapters I've been waiting eagerly to write since the beginning of the story. I'm not sure how well I pulled off the confrontation, but I'm mostly happy with it._

 _I've seen some people talking about me making Harry to OP or worried about how he is succeeding in everything. When I first started this story, I decided immediately that I did not want to nerf Harry's powers. I've seen it happen a lot in stories like this just so the canon events in the universe it is crossing over with aren't too easy. I really dislike this, therefore I wrote what I thought would happen if Harry legitimately showed up in Remnant. Canon magic is pretty OP on its own. I think there are people who could take down Harry by figuring out how to counter his magic, but that explains how things are happening in this story. The bad guys have never dealt with magic before like this. Harry is taking them by surprise. They've probably met people with some pretty unique semblances but I don't think it prepares them enough for HP magic. Take example the stunning spell. They can probably dodge it, but are used to only losing a little aura when they take damage. They're not expecting that if they get hit by the red light coming at them, they will get knocked out no matter their aura level._

 _I hope this explains a bit of what I was thinking. That said, things are going to start getting harder now. As anyone who's kept up to date with RWBY knows, Cinder is not the end of what's out there. Plus some old enemies might be coming back to bite him in the butt soon._

 _Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please leave me some feedback in the reviews. Sorry for the long Author's Note._

* * *

Harry stood in the control room of the Cross Continental Transmit System tower, also known as the CCT, in wait under a disillusionment charm. A mix of nerves and adrenaline left him feeling on edge. He could see light spilling out across the nearly empty grounds from the dance which would have just started. He tried not to think about the fact that Pyrrha was already there waiting for him. She'd understood when he'd explained he had a mission from Ozpin, but that hadn't meant she'd been happy. He'd promised her he would make it before the dance was over though. No matter what, he would keep that promise.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about the coming confrontation with Cinder Fall. He was confident that his magical abilities to allow him to come out of any situation on top, but that was only because he'd followed Ozpin's instructions about keeping his powers secret. He was sure that anyone, as long as they were moderately intelligent, which Cinder seemed to be or more, would be able to come up with counters to his magic given time. It was his ability to constantly pull off new and unexpected tricks that had allowed him to succeed against a myriad of more skilled enemies.

Harry was also sure that the more team RWBY got used to his magic, the less likely he would be able to pull off another win in a 1v4 matchup like before. His own team's three other members versus himself would also now be a very difficult fight. They were a lot more accustomed to his magic then team RWBY. He'd learned the hard way that Nora could absorb any kind of electric magic he used to make herself stronger. Both Ren and Pyrrha who used speed as a major aspect of their fighting style, were only getting better and better at dodging his spells. They'd actually started asking him to cast stinging hexes their direction to help train their reflexes.

Harry was broken out of his thoughts by the ding of the elevator. It sounded even louder than usual in the silent room. As the doors split open, spilling more light into the room, Harry noted the two unmoving soldiers behind the woman who stepped out. He hoped she had just knocked them out. Cinder Fall strode into the room, a little extra sway in her hips, obviously feeling confident in the outcome of her plan. She was wearing a completely black skin tight suit, that didn't leave much to the imagination, and a small black mask that covered her eyes. It took Harry a moment to refocus his mind on what he was supposed to be doing, forcibly reminding himself that Cinder was evil, no matter how good she looked in what she was currently wearing.

He hit a button on the side of his scroll, before slipping it into his pocket. It should alert Ozpin that she had arrived. Unfortunately, because they were expected at the dance, Ozpin, Goodwitch, any of the other professors couldn't have been waiting with Harry without raising suspicion.

"No. We're almost done here," Cinde spoke into an earpiece. Harry knew that could cause problems. He couldn't allow her to alert her allies to any problems. Deciding on a course of action, Harry flicked his wand, summoning the earpiece to him right out of her ear. As soon as it was in his hand, he was casting a stunning spell towards her. To his dismay, she saw it coming, and did a backflip out of the way like an expert gymnast.

Her eyes locked on to him as soon as the disillusionment charm started to fail. He saw her eyeing up his wand, before glancing at his holstered sword, and then refocusing on his wand. He'd been right earlier, she was smart.

Not wasting anymore time, he began casting again. Disarming charms, more stunning spells, and bludgeoning curses all began to rain down around her, but she avoided them all. She twirled through the spellfire as if it were a choreographed dance. Seeing the futility of his actions, he stopped. Both were silent and observing the other. "Your plan won't succeed Cinder." Harry saw her eyes widen in shock under her mask, before narrowing back on his face.

An odd device in her hands, released some kind dust in powdered form. A wave of her hand transformed it into sharp shards of glass that rocketed towards him. "Protego!" The shield sprang into existence and the glass shattered on contact. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Cinder had sprinted towards the master control terminal. Dropping the invisible shield, Harry summoned a giant gust of wind that blew her back into one of the windows. Though it didn't break, being military grade. He couldn't risk any of his electric spells, which were soon becoming a speciality of his, without risking damage to the CCT's systems.

As she scrambled back to her feet, a bow materialized in her hands. Pulling back, she nocked an arrow, aiming towards him. They both froze as the elevator dinged again. Both of them turned towards the opening door. It was Ruby Rose. The younger girl, took in the scene before her, eyes widening almost comically.

Cinder released her arrow, except at the newcomer instead. It happened so quickly that Harry didn't even have a chance to think of how to stop it. Luckily, Ruby had already been unfurling Crescent Rose, and she managed to intercept the arrow with the scythe-sniper combo. To both their surprise, the shattered arrow reformed itself, and corrected its path back towards its target. The blasting curse left Harry's wand with barely a thought, smashing the arrow once again. Ruby launched herself after Cinder while Harry watched the once again reforming arrow. As soon as it was whole, he shouted, "Immobulus!" The arrow froze midair. As Harry approached, he noticed it seemed to be vibrating, as if straining against the spell, which was something Harry had never seen nor heard of before. Deciding to try something else, Harry attempted to vanished it, which worked to his relief. He momentarily considered using that spell more in battle but soon discarded it when considering the amount of concentration it required, like all transfiguration spells, which tended to be why it wasn't his best subject.

Turning back to the fight, Harry was in time to see Ruby go flying backwards, though she recovered midair and landed on her feet. He noticed Cinder was now using two short swords instead of her bow. He needed to gain an advantage. "You might as well give up Cinder. We've already shut down your operation in Mountain Glenn."

She froze, "Expelliarmus!" For once the spell impacted her and her two swords were forced out of her hand. Partway through their arc through the air, they dissolved back into nothingness. Harry was shocked at the look of rage that overcame her features, as her hands, then arms became wreathed in flames. Shooting her hands forward, she launched the flames towards him. Cursing under his breath, he cast the flame freezing charm on himself. He wasn't quite fast enough though, as the initial blast left him feeling as if he had a bad sunburn. It wasn't too bad, though Harry was starting to get angry. This was taking way too long.

"You like to play with fire huh? Well try this! Incendio!" Harry intentionally forced more magic than necessary into the spell. The blast of fire that surged out from his wand was immense. Harry idly wondered if this was how the Hungarian Horntail had felt when it had attempted to roast him in his fourth year. He wasn't sure if the fire itself would hurt her, but the force of it alone was enough to send her toppling over one of the consoles. His spell continued on beyond that, succeeding in shattering the windows.

Cinder, obviously deciding that the night was a loss, tried to use the now open window as an escape route. Harry was fast though, managing to repair it just in time, so that her opening was cut off. Their was a dangerous glint in the woman's eye now. Re-summoning her swords, she charged the two hunters in training.

Once again, she was able to dodge the barrage of spellfire, and sniper rounds on Ruby's part, as she approached them. Suddenly, something smacked into him that sent him sliding backwards across the floor. A sharp pain made itself known on his left hand arm moments later.

Getting back to his feet, swaying, Harry looked for Ruby. Cinder had her, sword held to her throat, in front of the elevator. Crescent Rose lay discarded on the floor. She still hadn't said anything, but to Harry the message was clear. _Stay back or you're friend is dead._

"I would ask you to kindly remove your hands from my student Ms. Fall."

Everyone froze. Professor Ozpin stepped into view. There was a dangerous glint visible in his eye before it was covered when he pushed his glasses back up his nose. Every single one of Harry's senses were screaming danger. Ozpin was exuding of power in the likes of which he'd only felt from Dumbledore or Voldemort in the past.

Cinder finally broke her silence for the first time, and started to laugh. "Your arrogance will cost you old man! You've already lost!"

The Headmaster moved. Harry didn't know what exactly happened, but suddenly, he was beside Cinder. The woman in question was flying backwards and Ruby was stumbling forward finally free. Tumbling through the air, Cinder launched a fireball after Ruby. The fire was already past where Harry could effectively conjure a shield so, he did the only thing he could. He dived forward, pushing Ruby to floor beneath him, leaving his back to the incoming attack. The heat was intense but his earlier flame freezing charm as well as the protections he'd placed on his cloak took the brunt of it.

Rolling off Ruby, and jumping back to his feet, Harry turned to watch what was happening. Cinder was raining down fire on Ozpin, much like she'd attempted to with Ruby a moment before. To his amazement, none of them were landing. A transparent shimmering bubble seemed to have surrounded him. Within this bubble, he was a blurr. Moving this way and that, avoiding the fire, and launching his own small attacks.

It was only after seeing one of her stray fireballs destroy one of the visitors tables that Harry realized the danger the fight was causing. If something hit the main console, there was a chance it could take down the whole CCT in Vale. Rushing forward, Harry started throwing up shields around the room, restrengthening them as needed. He made sure to keep his eye on Ruby as well.

Finally, something seemed to happen. In the process of launching another one of her attacks, Cinder stiffened. One of her eyes flashed brightly with light, as her limbs shook. Harry wondered if she was having some kind of seizure, before she abruptly crumpled to the ground bonelessly.

Harry walked over towards Ozpin who was muttering to himself, "We're lucky she only had half the Maiden's power."

"What?"

For the first time Harry saw the Headmaster jump in surprise. He'd experienced this situation enough before to know that he hadn't meant to say whatever he'd just said out loud. "Ah Harry… I was just… Ms. Fall used too much power which resulted in her current state. I doubt she's ever pushed her power far enough before to realize this would happen." His tone of voice was back to that which implied he had started talking to himself again. After a moment of consideration, the man's eyes focused back on Harry, "This situation… it is related to what we spoke of in our last meeting about your partner. Now that we have captured Miss Fall, I will be able to explain it to you soon."

Harry would have rather received answers right way, but decided to be patient for a little while. "If you wouldn't mind, could you ensure that Miss Fall is properly bound and restrained. I will go and check on Miss Rose."

Harry sighed. They'd finally caught Cinder. Her attacks would be stopped. He should feel happy… relieved even, but something was bugging him. This whole situation didn't seem right. He felt the knowledge Ozpin would give them might clear some of it up, but he would remain patient. A flick of his wand bound her in ropes. A rather elaborate twist transfigured them into steel as he'd done previously on his mission, while a final flick stunned her again for good measure.

* * *

"Well done Harry. I think we could call this mission a success." Ozpin gave him a quick smile. Ruby had just left the room, after being given her debriefing. She was still not privy to many of the details of their operation, but had been let in on the fact that this had been the same woman she had faced the first time she'd met the headmaster.

"I believe so as well sir. Cinder was a lot harder to take down than I initially expected. I've never seen a semblance which has such diversified abilities. The feelings I were getting from her attacks almost seemed magical in nature." Ozpin nodded.

"Yes. I wondered if that's how it would feel to you." He hesitated again. "As I said earlier, I will be able to explain it to you all soon, but if you want to spend anytime at the dance at all, I would suggest heading there immediately. I fear Ms. Nikos would have my head if I monopolized all your time this evening."

Cursing, Harry jumped to his feet. He'd lost track of the time. "Yes sir. Thank you." Hurrying out of the office, Harry began running to his room to get changed.

* * *

"So are you sure she's the one who stole Amber's power?" General James Ironwood asked his friend and colleague, moments after Harry had left.

"Oh yes. She attempted to use the powers against me," Ozpin replied, a faint hint of amusement in his tone.

"Attempted? They didn't work?" Ironwood asked, serious, as always. He didn't pick up nor would he understand the earlier inflection in his fellow Headmaster's voice.

"They did work partially, but she does not have full control over them, and will not until they have been completely transferred to her. Even then, I have doubts that she will have access to the full extent of the Fall Maiden's power, given the manner in which they were taken. All magic has laws… you don't break them without suffering some kind of consequence."

"Do you believe there is a way for us to restore them fully to Amber?"

"I am unsure of how to accomplish it myself, yet, if anyone can figure it out, I believe it might just be our young Mr. Potter. He is going to make a fine huntsman."

"You want to bring a student into the Inner Circle?" The General asked incredulously.

"I do."

* * *

Harry sped into the hall slightly out of breath. He'd made it back to his room in record time, jumped in the shower and gotten changed. He was of the opinion that the tuxedo he'd rented looked a lot nicer than the stupid dress robes he'd been forced to wear in fourth year. Walking through the crowds of people, he began searching for his date.

Just when he was starting to get nervous that he couldn't find her, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. Spinning around he felt his breath hitch at the sight before him. Her hair was still in its regular ponytail, and her still circlet sat atop her head like it always did, yet the rest of her clothing was completely different. Gone was her regular spartan style armor, and in its place was a full length red dress that clung to her body like a second skin.

"Beautiful," Harry was barely even aware that he'd spoken out loud, it was only her sudden blush that tipped him off. "I- I mean you look very beautiful tonight Pyrrha." He stumbled slightly over his words.

"Thank you Harry. You look quite handsome yourself," As she stepped closer to him, he couldn't help his eyes from noticing the slits that ran from the bottom of her dress all the way to her mid thigh. They momentarily split as she moved giving him a flash of the creamy skin of her long legs. "You clean up well after coming back from a… mission." That succeeded in grabbing Harry's attention again.

"I'm so sorry about-"

Pyrrha cut him off, "It's ok Harry. I'm not mad at you. I understand what it's like to be under pressure. To have certain responsibilities." She seemed more serious that he'd ever seen her, but lightened up after that, "Just don't make a habit of leaving me without my dance partner."

Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled Pyrrha close, surprised when his hand met bare skin, only realizing after that her dress had an open back. Pushing his lust filled thoughts down, he met her emerald eyes with his own. "Is that all I'm good for? Your dancing partner?" He was unable to completely hide his amusement.

"I guess it's always handy to have someone to spar against as well."

"Is that all?" He pushed.

"Hmm… I don't know," she mock pondered, trying to hide her smile. "Maybe I'll be able to come up with something else…"

Leaning forward he planted a long slow kiss upon her lips, reveling in how good it felt to hold her in his arms. Breaking the kiss, they both were a little out of breath. "How about that? Is that enough to keep me around?"

"It just might be Mr. Potter." Her mouth turned up in a small mischievous smile. Pyrrha was one of the most honest and caring people he'd had the pleasure to meet in both worlds, so seeing that expression on her face was quite the sight to behold. If he was honest with himself, he actually found it very alluring.

"Would you care to dance now milady?" Harry had taken a step back and given Pyrrha an overly exaggerated bow.

"I would actually," taking his hand. The two wove through the crowd of dancing couples to find a little bit of open floor space. Harry hadn't actually gotten any dancing lessons since his fourth year, but unlike Hogwarts he wasn't required to perform a formal dance in front of a crowd. He was just happy to go with the flow, even if meant completely following Pyrrha's lead, and only consisted of swaying while rotating slowly on the spot. He trusted her, and would be happy as long as he got to continue holding her.

As they slowly moved around the dance floor in a temporary companionable silence, Harry started to reflect on their relationship so far. Pyrrha truly was an amazing woman, and he knew he was incredibly fortunate that she reciprocated his feelings. He liked to think that they had impacted each other for the better since they'd met.

When he'd arrived on Remnant, he had been given a fresh start away from Voldemort, away from the war, and away from the prophecy, whatever it was that it had said. Despite this, he had jumped back into the fight, deciding to train to become a huntsman. He didn't regret this decision, but at the time it had been his only goal in mind, the only thing to distract him from his loneliness, but now he had other goals. He had dreams of a life outside of his job. Maybe one day starting a family with Pyrrha. Family... something he'd dreamed of his whole life. Something Pyrrha... and the rest of his team, to an extent, had given him.

It may just be wishful thinking on his part, but he was confident that he had helped Pyrrha as well. As he'd said earlier, when he'd met her, she'd always been kind and courteous, if a little distant. She'd always spoken in a professional manor and had seemed almost unsure of how to relate to others. It was something he'd learned later was a result of managing her fame at such an early age. Harry understood, having experienced the same thing first hand, and was sure that he would have been more like that too without his friendship with Ron and Hermione. Now, however, Pyrrha had greatly relaxed. She seemed more at ease in social situations, speaking casually with her friends, and to his delight, had become a lot more playful a person.

Despite all this, there would always be a hole in his heart that Hermione, Ron, and the other Weasley's used to fill, though Pyrrha had changed that greatly. She had been his first true friend in this world. He'd always miss his first friends, but he could clearly say now that Pyrrha was his best friend, seeing as how he'd been able to tell her things he'd never dreamt of sharing with others before. To him, that's what made their relationship all the better. He couldn't think of anything better than being in love with your best friend.

Harry almost tripped over his own feet when he realized the direction his thoughts had turned, earning him an inquiring look from his girlfriend. He shrugged it off for now, trying to keep calm. He'd been trying to suppress all thoughts of the 'L-word' for a little while. He was certain that if he didn't already, he was coming to love her, and that thought frankly scared him. He hadn't had a lot of experience with love in his life, but glancing at her smiling face, green eyes shining as she looked at him, he was tempted to just tell her. To just blurt it out for all to hear, but that's when all his fears and insecurities came rushing back in. They'd only been officially dating for a little while, even if they'd known each other for over half a year. And thus he held his tongue, but it didn't stop him from saying what else he was thinking.

"You're amazing," she looked surprised.

"W-what?"

"You're amazing," he replied simply because that's exactly what it was. It was simple. It was the truth.

"Thank you," she flushed red, though not quite as deep a red as her hair. He enjoyed the fact that he could make her blush, though she tended to do it to him just as much. "What brought that on?"

"I was just thinking… about everything… about us… and the future. It made me realize how much I care for you," she was smiling even more brightly now. He was in awe, how seeing something so simple was able to bring his own spirits up so much.

This time it was her who leaned forward and initiate the kiss, flexing her arms and pulling him tight against her body, making him intimately aware of all her curves. Even when they once again broke for air, she remained hovering close to his face, peppering a few light kisses on his lips before leaning her head against his shoulder, and snuggling in close to his neck. He couldn't help but shiver in pleasure at the feeling of her breath in his ear.

"So you're mission went successful?" Pyrrha asked, probably trying to distract them both while they calmed down.

"It did. It was tougher than I originally anticipated, but we got the person we were after in the end."

"I'm glad," she gave him another quick kiss on his jaw, that momentarily distracted him. "Did Ruby somehow get involved? I saw her leave earlier, and then when she came back she looked a little ruffled, and knowing her, I didn't think it was because she was off with some boy. Yang looked pretty concerned and whisked her out of here pretty quick."

"Yeah, she showed up for some reason. Got a little banged up in the fight, and almost captured. Not sure if I'd have been able to do anything if Ozpin hadn't shown up."

"I saw the General, and Professor Goodwitch escort those other two exchange students from the other day out earlier too. I thought the way she took them down seemed a little harsh, but no one looked like they wanted to question what she was doing. She just said something about drinking on school property, then she knocked them out and had them carried out, bound."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. Some people might actually believe that the strict professor had really done that just for drinking. "That's good to know. She's strict but not that bad. I'd forgotten to ask Ozpin if they'd managed to capture those two. Trust me, it wasn't overkill."

She pulled back front his chest, looking at him questioningly, "I'll fill you in soon... Its finally over. She was the one in charge, and we've got her. Let's just enjoy the rest of the dance. We'll talk about it all soon."

And enjoy it they did, holding each other secure in their arms, neither realizing how wrong Harry's last comment really was. Events in Remnant were truly just getting started.

* * *

The door slammed as they stumbled into the room. Harry and Pyrrha hadn't done much more than cuddle and the occasional long kiss, but in his current state, face locked with his gorgeous girlfriend, he idly realized how right Seamus and Dean were. They used to always boast about how great snogging was to their dormmates.

Harry staggered again when Pyrrha jumped and proceeded to wrap her legs around his waist, all while continuing to kiss him. He was unaccustomed to the added weight, because though Pyrrha had a very feminine figure, Harry was suddenly reminded that it hid hardened muscles that she'd toned since her childhood. He was certain that if she'd done the same thing before he'd started training with her, he'd be on the floor for sure.

He once again noted how soft her skin was, as his one hand was placed on the outside of her leg to keep her stable. With his other hand moving across her bare back, she let out a small moan into his mouth. Harry considered it probably the sexiest thing that had occurred in his life.

"TIME FOR TEAM HYPERION'S VYTAL FESTIVAL BALL AFTER PAR-," the loud voice suddenly cut off. Harry let go of Pyrrha in shock. Fortunately, Pyrrha's honed reflexes allowed her to land on her feet. Turning around, he took in a blushing Nora and a stoic, as always, Ren. They were carrying with them what looked like bags of soft drinks and junk food.

"Oh… oops," Nora let out a nervous giggle. "We can… ugh… leave."

"No no no! It's fine. A party sounds like a… grand... idea!" Extremely polite Pyrrha was back, she looked as embarrassed as Harry felt. On one hand, he wanted to take Nora up on her offer so that they could get back to what they were doing, but he was pretty sure the mood was effectively ruined, plus he didn't want to kick them out of their own room.

"Yeah! A party sounds great!" Nora looked relieved when their leader agreed.

"Ren and I picked up some stuff earlier today," and she began unloading her bag. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought that someone had put an undetectable extension charm on it. He wasn't sure how they would get through all of it, but he realized it was Nora who'd bought it so she'd probably be able to go through most of it on her own. "Do you think we should invite team RWBY over as well?"

Knowing his fellow leader could probably use a distraction after the night's events he thought was a good idea. "That's a goo-"

That's when it hit. The pain. Harry felt like his whole body was on fire. Like his blood was boiling in his veins. He dropped to his knees. He could feel magic in the air, rippling around him. His throat seemed raw as well, which he noticed a moment later was because he was screaming, which he didn't remember starting to do.

Suddenly Pyrrha was in front of him, tears in her eyes, screaming something at him that he couldn't hear. He wanted to tell her what was wrong, what he was feeling, but he couldn't seem to catch his breath to do so. Harry felt like something was trying to pull him out of his body, it was the pain he'd always imagined having your soul sucked out by a dementor was like.

Then, just as quickly as it came, it was gone. At the same time there was a great flash of light and a loud crack of displaced air. Falling backwards onto the floor, he tried to fight off his sudden grogginess. He heard a bunch of shouts that he couldn't understand, and thought he heard someone call his name, probably Pyrrha.

Forcing himself into an upright position, he froze at the scene in front of him. At the opposite side of the room stood none other than Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin wands raised. Both looking worse for wear. In front of them stood Ron Weasley, an expression of intense fury on his face, that he didn't understand until he saw the last person of their group. Hermione Granger was frozen wide-eyed, mid-step, with wand out, and arms open, as if in the middle of running towards him to give him one of her famous hugs. The reason she was frozen in place was because Pyrrha was crouched in front of him protectively, her sword, Miló, held at Hermione's throat. He noted out of the corner of his eye that Nora had her hammer out and Ren's pistols were already raised.

Just great! It looked like he was going to have to stop his old and new friends from killing each other. Why couldn't things ever be simple?


	13. Chapter 12: Old Friends

**Chapter 12:** _ **Old Friends**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Here's another chapter for you guys. It's a bit longer than most, and was actually pretty hard to write. Up until last chapter I had everything planned out by chapter in detail but from now on it's mostly just a general idea of what I want to happen next in the story in my head. I'll probably spend some time soon writing down some notes._

 _Some people have expressed concerns that I will start bashing characters, but I wanted to reassure people I am not planning on doing that. Some characters may get into arguments and or have disagreements because of things happening in the story, but I am not planning on bashing. For example, we all know Ron is quick to anger, and that may get him in trouble a bit at first as he comes to terms with some things, but I am not bashing him. He'll come around in the end._

 _For the first time in a long time, there's no real action this chapter. It's mostly all dialogue. I hope you all enjoy. As always, please let me know what you think in the reviews. I was overwhelmed by the number of reviews I got for the last chapter. I think it was a record for me, so thank you._

* * *

 _ **Forcing himself into an upright position, he froze at the scene in front of him. At the opposite side of the room stood none other than Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin wands raised. Both looking worse for wear. In front of them stood Ron Weasley, an expression of intense fury on his face, that he didn't understand until he saw the last person of their group. Hermione Granger was frozen wide-eyed, mid-step, with wand out, and arms open, as if in the middle of running towards him to give him one of her famous hugs. The reason she was frozen in place was because Pyrrha was crouched in front of him protectively, her sword, Miló, held at Hermione's throat. He noted out of the corner of his eye that Nora had her hammer out and Ren's pistols were already raised.**_

"Woah! Everyone calm down. Let's take a deep breath and lower our weapons." Of course nobody moved. "Ok Pyrrha, the girl you're currently holding at sword point is my good friend I told you about before… Hermione."

"Oh," Pyrrha's green eyes widened suddenly, and she relaxed her grip on Miló and stepped back. Of course, that's all it took to set Ron off, as he whipped out his own wand now that Hermione was out of the way.

"Ron stop!" He stepped in front of Pyrrha.

"Stop? That slag tried to kill Hermione!"

Harry had to fight down the anger that started to bubble up at his old friend's insulting words aimed towards his girlfriend. _'He doesn't know any better'_ was what he started chanting in his head to keep calm and stop himself from decking Ron.

"Kill her? I wasn't trying to kill her," Pyrrha looked horrified. "I was just protecting Harry!"

"Why would he need protection from us!"

"Ron calm down." It was Hermione that spoke this time. "I'm fine. I'm sure it was just a shock to everyone that we popped out of nowhere."

"It's true," Pyrrha spoke up. "Harry fell to the ground, suddenly screaming as if he was being tortured, and then you people just popped up out of nowhere. All I saw was a strange girl running at Harry with a wand out. I thought it was an attack, so I reacted. I am sorry Hermione. Harry has told me a lot about you. I wouldn't have done that if I'd known it was you, but I won't apologize for protecting Harry."

"Screaming?" Hermione sounded alarmed but he just waved off her question for now. "Its ok. I understand. Pyrrha, is it?" She asked holding out her hand.

"Yes. Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine."

"Err… right. Everyone this is Ren and this is Nora." He indicated to his other two teammates as they stowed their weapons. "Pyrrha's already introduced herself. Everyone else, these are my friends back from my original world. Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, and Professor Dumbledore."

Ron was still eyeing Harry's teammates distrustfully, but he'd lowered his wand. A few of the others exchange greetings. Suddenly, Hermione shot forward again and pulled him into a tight hug. She started crying almost immediately, "We thought you were dead! Then Professor Dumbledore figured out that you were alive, but we didn't where you were." She pulled away but held him at arm's length, obviously looking him over. "We didn't know if you were ok!"

Her voice was starting to sound slightly hysterical so he started trying to calm her down," Shhh. It's ok Hermione. I'm alive. I'm safe." She pulled him back in tightly again before releasing him, stepping back sniffling.

Remus was up next, pulling him into a hug of his own, "Harry! I thought I'd lost you both at once. D-did he make it? Is Sirius here with you?" Harry shook his head sadly and Remus just looked to the ground with a sigh. "I figured that might be the case, but I just had to ask. I'm glad your ok Harry."

"I know Moony. I miss him too. I'm pretty sure my survival in the veil was a fluke. I don't think it normally works in the way that it did."

"Ah so you remember your trip through the veil? I think that would be a fascinating story." The old wizard placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's good to see you alive and well Harry."

"It's good to see you too sir. I believe that particular story might be best left for the moment though. I think it would be a good idea to take you all see the Headmaster." The wizards in the room looked between Harry and Dumbledore strangely. "Headmaster Ozpin I mean. Sorry, I should have been clearer. This will probably get confusing."

"I take it we are in a school of some sort Harry?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

"Yes. I guess it's my pleasure to welcome you all to Beacon Academy in the Kingdom of Vale." Harry gestured around the room. "This is my teams dormroom."

Harry suddenly felt a slap him on the back, "It's good to see ya mate! I'm glad we finally found you. Don't worry, we'll get you back home with us soon." Harry was suddenly aware of the subtle hitch in his girlfriend's breathing. Turning towards her, he saw her eyes widen, looking devastated. He tried to convey her his reassurance wordlessly, but wasn't sure he was entirely successful. He'd have to talk to her soon because despite what Ron just said, Harry had no intentions of returning to Earth any time soon. He was happy with the life he was building here on Remnant with Pyrrha.

To avoid causing any problems, he held his tongue and instead replied, "I'm happy to see you too Ron. Now, Ren, Nora, can you please start leading the way to Professor Ozpin's office. Pyrrha and I will pull up the rear."

"You got it Harry! Let's go Ren!" She exited the room quickly, as the other occupants slowly shuffled out after.

He grabbed Pyrrha's hand to stop her from following the last person out. Her face was now set in an expressionless mask as she looked at him, "I'm not going anywhere Pyrrha. I promise you that I'm not leaving. I've got a life now here on Remnant. A future… hopefully with you. I missed Ron and Hermione, and it is good to see them, but I never truly had a life back there. Not with a psychopath out for my blood."

Pyrrha's guarded expression dropped, and he eyes started to glisten, but she was smiling, "Why didn't you say anything then before… when your friend Ron said that?"

Harry sighed, "They obviously put a lot of work into figuring out a way to come here just to get me back. I'll need to break the news to them gently. Everyone was still too on edge when he said that, it wasn't the right time."

Pyrrha nodded her acceptance, "Don't scare me like that ever again! I don't know what I'd do without you now."

"I feel the same way Pyrrha… I feel the same way," Harry stepped in close to give his girlfriend a quick kiss, but after the discussion they'd just had, it quickly grew much more heated than he'd anticipated. Breaking away with a gasp he continued in a murmur, "We should probably go catch up. I should be there for when they reach Professor Ozpin."

Luckily Pyrrha agreed. He wasn't sure he'd have the willpower to deny her should she have decided to continue their previous activities.

* * *

Harry and his partner caught up with the group just as they reached the elevator leading up to Ozpin's office. He entered the elevator last, so that he'd be closest to the door to exit and introduce his companions. His request to enter was accepted, and soon the elevator doors were opening with a ding.

"I'm surprised to see you back here already Harry. You're in luck. I was planning to head to bed soon. Is there something tha-" Ozpin stopped talking, his eyes were locked onto Albus Dumbledore. Harry winced when he realized how late, or rather early, it actually was. He'd forgotten about the dance which had ran late anyway.

The two Headmasters were staring at each other as if sizing each other up. Everyone else was silent as they watched the spectacle. Ozpin broke the silence first, "I would prefer if you would refrain from rummaging through my mind, Headmaster Dumbledore."

The old wizard flinched slightly looking chastised, but there was now a glint of curiosity in his eye, "You know who I am?"

"Harry has spoken much about you when telling me of your world."

"Ah, but how did you know that I was him."

"You live up to his depiction," he answered dryly.

"You know occlumency!" Harry blurted out.

Ozpin looked at him quizzically for a moment before replying, "The mental technique you told me about to keep out foreign invaders?"

"Ya!"

"I assure you Harry, I don't know your occlumency. I am highly sensitive to aura, and as I told you before, your magic comes across much like aura. I was merely able to sense Headmaster Dumbledore's magic trying to make a connection to my mind. I am unsure if I would have been able to resist him, using my aura in some way. It's possible if people were able to learn the proper way to manipulate their aura, they could protect themselves from some of your magic. It is an interesting premise that can be explored at a later time, however I am assuming since your old headmaster is standing in front of me, more people from your world have found their way to Remnant."

"Uhhh… yeah… basically."

"Though Harry here seems to have told you about me, I feel it's only polite for me to introduce myself. I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This here is Remus Lupin, former Hogwarts professor and friend of Harry's parents before their tragic passing. These two are Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, friends and classmates of Harry's."

Ozpin nodded to each of them in turn, "It pleasure to meet you all. My name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Only professional school to train Huntsman and Huntresses in the Kingdom of Vale."

"Huntsmen?" Hermione piped up. Harry could tell she was positively brimming with questions about this new world she found herself in.

"I believe when I first met Harry here, he compared them to something you called Aurors. However, Huntsmen and Huntresses are more like guardians of modern society than they are general police. Each kingdom has a separate police force as it is, though there are times their duties can overlap."

Hermione looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but Dumbledore stepped in, "We had to use a complicated ritual to find our way to this world. I'm not sure how long it will take to recharge and allow us to make a return trip. It could take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months to recharge. Now that we've found Harry we can leave as soon as it's ready. Do you know of anywhere we could acquire accommodation?"

Ozpin glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye in concern. He shook his head slightly, trying to convey what he was thinking, or at least get him to agree to let them talk later. He must have got the message because his eyes flicked back to focus on Dumbledore, "Of course Headmaster. Beacon is currently playing host to students from the three other academies on Remnant for the upcoming Vytal Tournament. We already have guest accommodations set up for that, I'm sure we could spare a couple rooms for your remaining stay here."

"That is most kind of you. Thank you."

Ozpin inclined his head, "Now, it is getting terribly late, and Harry just got back from a mission tonight, let alone attended the Vytal Tournament Ball. I think it's best we all retire for now and reconvene in the morning to continue our conversation. Are we all agreed?" When they all nodded he continued, "Good. Harry, on your way out I will send the details of their rooms to your scroll. If you could show them the way and unlock the rooms for them, it would be most helpful. I'll look at finding a scroll to loan your group for the duration of your stay so that you do not require Harry or myself to unlock your room for you after tonight. Have a good night."

* * *

Harry drifted forward, looking up a natural raised stone ramp and the woman who stood at its top, if she could even be called a woman. She was humanoid in appearance, but that's where the similarities ended. Her skin was unnaturally pale, appearing almost to be made of bone. It was only broken by veins of deep crimson starting in the corner of her eyes and spreading out across her cheeks. Her hair was the same colour of her skin and was done up in an elaborate knot upon her head. All of this only served to make the burning red of her eyes to stand out even more.

There was something fundamentally wrong about her. As if her very existence defied the laws of the universe. Even after delving into the dark arts like he had, and even after going through the rituals he had to secure his relative immortality, he was uncomfortable. It took all his strength of will to stop himself from fingering his yew and phoenix feather wand.

"So do we have a deal Lady Salem?"

The woman, no the entity, in front of him just watched him impassively. The silence grew until she finally spoke. "We do Lord Voldemort. As long as you take care of the Potter child and return to your world once you are done, I will turn a blind eye to your actions here, and send you with some aide of my own. Potter has interfered with my plans enough as it is. He captured my agent, and decimated her organization. It will take me a long time to build it back up."

"Then we are agreed."

"You will leave Ozpin out of this. He is mine to finish. If you touch one hair on his head I will be most displeased." He hated being treated like a common follower, but for the first time in a long time, he knew he was thoroughly outclassed. Therefore, gritting his teeth, he acknowledged her instructions with a bow of his head, "Good. Now go. Fulfill your end of the bargain!"

* * *

Harry lurched up into a sitting position on his bed, breathing heavy. He had a slight headache, but for once, it wasn't his scar that was hurting. It was just a regular headache, not that he'd had his scar hurt in the past year. Despite all these irregularities, Harry knew exactly what had just happened. He'd seen inside Voldemort's head again. That could only mean one thing.

"Harry? Are you alright?" Pyrrha sat down on a the bed beside him, feeling his forehead.

"He's here Pyrrha… he's here."

"What? Who's here Harry?"

"Voldemort is here. He's in Remnant. Either he's finally followed me over, or he followed Dumbledore and the others. What are we going to do?" He was feeling a bit faint.

"We'll survive Harry… together," he leaned into his girlfriends embrace. The familiar weight on his shoulders, which had only disappeared after many months spent in Remnant, returned. Luckily for him, knowing Pyrrha was there and cared for him, gave him the strength to bear it with chin held high."

* * *

"Are you sure that's the name that was said Harry? Voldemort called her Salem?"

"Yes I'm sure. Shouldn't we be more worried about the fact that Voldemort has arrived on Remnant? Who is this woman?"

Ozpin slumped back in his seat looking exhausted, "She is… an old acquaintance of mine. Someone I knew a lifetime ago. Someone I thought long dead."

"That's good then right? If it's one of your old friends? You can make contact with them figure this all out." Ozpin grimaced slightly when he said the word friend.

"I don't think that will be possible. Though she is still physically alive, whatever was left of my… friend… died a long time ago."

Harry wanted to ask more, but Dumbledore cut in, "So you are having visions again Harry? Is your scar still hurting?"

"Not really… that's the weird part. I haven't had pain in my scar since coming to Remnant. When I woke up from my dream this morning, I had a slight headache, but it wasn't scar pain. Trust me, I know the difference. I sort of felt like I used to after Occlumency lessons with Snape."

"Professor Snape Harry," Dumbledore muttered absentmindedly with a thoughtful look on his face. It was obvious to all he muddling through whatever Harry had just said, when suddenly his face brightened and his eyes began shining with excitement.

"I believe I've just figured something out Harry. Would mind sharing your experience traveling through the veil now? It will be crucial to proving my hypothesis."

"Ugh… sure. Well as you guys all know I was petrified before the veil. Then the fight broke out, I was toppling forwards when someone, most likely from the Order, managed to hit me with a _finite_. I stumbling after that, trying to catch my balance when I tripped and fell headfirst through the veil."

Ron coughed awkwardly and interjected himself into the story, "Actually Harry, that was Ginny. She saw you falling down, and tried to free you so you could fight. She never expected you to trip right into the veil. She's been in a right state ever since. She was blaming herself for killing you for a long while, well at least until we found out you were alive."

"Oh…" Harry scratched his head. "It's not her fault. I most likely would have fallen right into the veil anyway, even if she had left me petrified. Anyway, after that I found myself in some kind of void. I don't really know how to describe it, it was like floating in infinite nothingness. Then I started seeing flashes on all sides around me. I'm pretty sure now that I was seeing flashes of other universes. Some of them seemed very similar to the one I'd left, while eventually some became very different to Earth, like Remnant here. Throughout this whole time, I could see a blindingly bright light in the distance, and I seemed to be heading straight for it, that is until my scar hurt. It never actually hurt before as bad as it did at that moment. It felt like something was being ripped out of my skull. I remember hearing a high pitched scream that wasn't mine, and then I was heading off course. Whatever happened in my scar directed me away from the light and into one of the visions of alternate universes. The next time I woke up was in the hospital wing here at Beacon."

Dumbledore was smiling triumphantly now, "Harry, I believe by Voldemort forcing you to come here, and then following you here himself, he has done more to move us closer to his own defeat than we have ever accomplished ourselves!"

"Sir?"

"I need to explain. I have been researching this subject for years. Trying to piece together as much information on Voldemort that I could find. It was only in recent years I was able to confirm my theory. What you have to understand about Voldemort is that he is obsessed with death. His greatest fear is his own mortality."

"Aren't most people scared of dying?" Harry asked confused. Though there were many times in his short life where Harry had been prepared to risk his life for what he believed in, it hadn't meant he wasn't scared of the possibility. He loved living, and wanted to remain doing so.

"They do, but with Voldemort it's different. His fear consumes him. He has spent most of his life searching for ways to make himself immortal. One of such methods is through the creation of something called Horcruxes. It is foul dark magic. The wizard or witch conceals a piece of their soul within an object, and as long as that object is safe, the wizard or witch cannot die. They achieve this by splitting their soul into pieces through cold blooded murder. A ritual is performed to transfer the soul piece into the prepared object."

"Voldemort did this?" Harry asked horrified. Looking around the office he saw similar expressions on everyone's faces. The residents of Remnant looked even more appalled than the magical folk. With the prevalence of awakening one's aura here, he should have realized that manipulations of the soul would be seen as an even more heinous a crime.

"He did it more than once I'm afraid. My suspicions were confirmed when you brought me a curious little diary at the end of your second year."

"That was a horcrux?" Harry gasped.

"My sister was possessed by a piece of Voldemort's soul?" Ron exclaimed.

Dumbledore turned towards the boy, "I'm sorry to say she was, Mr. Weasley."

"Who would do such a thing?" Pyrrha spoke up for the first time in the meeting, looking revolted at everything she'd heard.

"This is why Voldemort has always posed such a threat, Miss Nikos correct?"

"Yes sir," his girlfriend replied.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I know he made more than just one. I am uncertain the exact number he made, but my research points to seven."

"Seven?" Harry yelped. "We have to find six more of these things back on Earth to be able to kill Voldemort?"

"That's what I originally believed, but that's no longer the case. On the night that he murdered your parents, and attempted to kill you, his soul, so unstable from the stress of the horcruxes he'd created, unintentionally split again, and latched on to the closest living thing in that house." As Dumbledore said this, his eyes slowly moved up to focus on the lightning shaped scar on Harry's forehead that had been slowly fading ever since he'd arrived on Remnant."

Almost everyone in the room let out some kind of startled exclamation.

"I-I-I'm a horcrux?" Harry asked paling.

"You're scar was Harry. It was, but not anymore."

"What?" Harry's mind was reeling. He just found out he had a piece of his parents' killer's soul stuck in head only to find out a second later he only used to have it.

"The piece of his soul no longer resides inside of you Harry. From what I can tell, it was destroyed when you passed through the veil. The piece of his soul cannot exist in a separate dimension than from the main portion of his soul. That's why I said he has done most of our work for us. I believe when Voldemort decided to follow us here, the connections between his main soul and his horcruxes would have snapped, and they have most likely all been destroyed."

"Just like that?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Just like that. He should be mortal now, though he is still highly skilled, and will be hard to kill."

"As fascinating as this all is, we should discuss actual strategies to deal with this threat. Now that know that… Salem… is out there as well, we will need to start preparing for that eventuality," Ozpin interjected.

"I agree Professor, but I just have one last question about our previous subject matter first." When Ozpin waved his hand for him to carry on, he did, "Professor Dumbledore, how is it that I was still able to see into Voldemort's mind if I no longer am a horcrux? I'm assuming that's what gave me a connection to him in the first place."

"Your are correct Harry, that is what gave you the connection initially. The reason that you were able to see into his head in your dreams is I believe because of an echo of your original connection. Your scar should no longer hurt after said dreams or if you are near him any longer. This echo connection will most likely last until one of you is dead. It should be harmless for the most part."

"Oh ok… thank you," Harry turned his attention back to Beacon's Headmaster. ; "What was it you wanted to share Professor Ozpin?"

"Thank you Harry. I just wanted to say that we have considerable technological resources at our disposal normally used to detect Grimm approaching the kingdom's borders. We can retask some of this system's resources to searching for your Voldemort. Hopefully it will find him before he makes a move into the open. Huntsman and Huntresses won't be prepared to face magic like this. They are all highly trained and not without a few tricks of their own, so they will be able to protect the citizens, but we must be ready to respond as soon as we are aware of his location."

They all nodded.

"Forgive me Professor Ozpin, but something you said earlier peaked my interest. What are the Grimm." Hermione's fanatical search for knowledge was running rampant like usual.

Ozpin glanced at Harry curiously, and he wilted slightly, "Uhh, I guess I never really explained what exactly it is Huntsman do."

"You said they were like Aurors… the police. I think you also called them defenders or guardians of humanity?"

Before Harry could reply, Ozpin cut in, "That is true Miss Granger, but what Harry left out is what Huntsman are defending humanity from. The creatures of Grimm are described as creatures of destruction and they lack a soul. They are also drawn to feelings of negativity; such as envy, sadness, loneliness, and hatred; often congregating towards the source of these emotions."

"Oh," was all she managed, looking slightly disturbed by the sound of the creatures she'd just learned about.

"So the hunters protect these Kingdoms you spoke of before? How many-"

"Miss Granger, as much as I would love to answer all your questions right now, I need to speak to your Headmaster and Mr. Lupin about plans for the near future. I'm sure Harry and his team can show you and Mr. Weasley around the grounds, and they should be able to answer most the questions you have. If there are things they cannot answer, please make a list of your remaining questions and I will strive to answer them at my earliest convenience," Ozpin smiled kindly at her, but Harry could tell it was a bit forced. The stress of these new revelations was weighing on him.

Hermione glanced down towards her feet, looking slightly abashed, "Yes sir. Thank you sir."

* * *

"Nora's getting a little antsy. We're going to head out for a bit. I thought it would give you a bit of time to catch up with your friends anyway," Ren informed him as they neared their dormroom. They had spent the last hour after exiting Ozpin's office showing Ron and Hermione around the grounds. He'd spent some time explaining more about Hunters and Remnant in general. Hermione had been shocked to learn how little of Remnant was actually inhabited by humans, and how low the population was. However she was fascinated by what they'd been able to tell her of dust, and she seemed dead set on examining its properties as soon as she could.

"Ok, thanks Ren. Sounds good. You two have fun."

The quiet boy nodded silently before heading off down the hall with his shorter redheaded partner.

"Hey, let's head in here for a while guys. It'll be nice to catch up some more."

Entering the room he flopped down on his bed for a moment feeling exhausted. He pushed himself up in time to see Ron point at Pyrrha, "What's she doing here. I thought we were going to catch up."

Harry sighed. He detected no malice in his tone, so he was pretty sure Ron was legitimately confused to why she was there. In a way he couldn't fault the red headed boy as before it had always been the three of them against the world., "There's nothing wrong with Pyrrha staying Ron, especially since she's my girlfriend."

Ron gaped at him, "Girlfriend?" He asked incredulously. "W-why would you get a girlfriend over here? You'll just have to break up before coming back with us? What's the point?"

Harry paused. He hadn't really wanted to admit this yet. He just wanted to catch up with his friends. Hermione gasped. Her suddenly wide eyes shining with suppressed tears. Ron glanced at Hermione then back at Harry, "What?"

"Well Ron," he tried to sound conciliatory," I'm not... exactly coming back."

"WHAT?" Ron jumped to his feet. "You're not- I-I-I can't believe… I need to get out of here." He stormed out of the room, the door slamming closed with a loud thud.

He knew that could have gone a lot better. He decided to catch up with his friend before he got too far to explain his reasons. Getting to his feet, he was stopped by the sound of Hermione's voice, "I wouldn't go after him yet. He'll need a little bit of time to cool off. He probably still won't be happy with you but he'll probably listen to you by that point." Harry shot her a helpless look, "You have to understand Harry, things have sort of fallen apart back home without you. Ron and I didn't get along well without you there at first. We were constantly fighting, and were both distraught when we thought you were dead. We eventually reconciled, and it probably made our… relationship… stronger in the long run, but everything was better when you were there." Harry wondered slightly at her pause at the word relationship, but he decided to ask about that another time.

Harry sat back down, and Pyrrha grabbed his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "So what's been going on back on Earth anyway?"

Hermione grimaced, "Things have been bad. Some Auror leaked what he'd heard Voldemort say about the prophecy that night to the Daily Prophet. No one knew exactly what it said, but they reported that the prophecy claimed you were the only one with the power to stop Voldemort, and that you were pronounced dead after being thrown through the Veil of Death. The public panicked. Some gave up right away and joined the Death Eaters, while many others tried to flee the country with their families. Voldemort, thinking he'd already won, completely decimated the Ministry. The only safe place is Hogwarts and that barely has any students left. Voldemort has attacked there a few times, though Dumbledore has been able to turn him away each time, if only just."

"Wow… that's worse than I thought. I hope things have lightened up there since Voldemort's focused on getting at me here on Remnant. I wonder how he learned I was here?"

"I don't know," his friend shrugged. "I'm thinking there might be a traitor in the Order. He didn't seem aware that you were still alive until after we'd left to come here ourselves. Someone must have told him where, why, and how we got here."

"The thought that I didn't die again must have really freaked him out. Maybe he thought I'd come back and hunt him down and finally fulfill this prophecy that everyone's talking about. If he'd just stayed where he was, I probably would never have seen him again."

Hermione made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat. "Anyway, on to brighter topics… you two are dating?" His friend was smiling now, while he and Pyrrha were blushing.

"Yea, we've bee-" Harry stopped talking as he felt his Scroll buzz. Pulling it out of pocket, he was surprised to see it was Ozpin calling.

Hitting answer he held it up to his ear, "Harry, we need you to return to my office with your group, ASAP. Something's come up."

"Ok, Professor," looking at the other two he spoke, "We need to go."


	14. Chapter 13: Old Enemies

**Chapter 13:** _ **Old Enemies**_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Another chapter done. Parts of this chapter were easy to write while others required a bit more effort. I'm blown away that we've now passed 800 followers and are almost at 650 favorites. We've almost hit 200 reviews as well! This is the most popular story I've written so far, and I wanted to thank you all for the amazing response._

 _As always, please leave me a review to let me know what you think. Enjoy!_

* * *

Harry burst into Ozpin's office without bothering to knock. He'd never heard the experienced Huntsman sound so worried, even with the crazy events of the past few weeks. Pyrrha followed him in within seconds, but it took Hermione a few moments longer to catch up, gasping for breath.

He immediately zeroed in on a concerned looking Ozpin, Goodwitch, Dumbledore, and Lupin all gathered around the large glass desk, watching some kind of camera footage. He strode over towards them, "What's the situation?"

Ozpin looked up from the screen, "We got reports from a Huntsman on patrol of a large Grimm attack in the middle of downtown Vale." He indicated to a point on an open map on screen.

"Is it a breach from Mountain Glenn? I thought we shut that operation down."

"No. That's the strange part. The teams reported no discernible breach in the Kingdom's defenses, yet our systems didn't pick up on them crossing any borders either. It's like they just appeared."

"That's strange. Vale hasn't had a mess up in its defense system that bad in decades. I read about it in my research when I first arrived here."

"Exactly! They also said these Grimm were… peculiar. They said they only appeared visible to those who had an unlocked aura. I advised them to move in with caution and assess the situation. They were eliminate the threat if possible." Harry nodded waiting to hear the rest with a growing sense of foreboding. "All members are currently unresponsive."

"What!"

"Three of the team members dropped immediately, the leader starting screaming into the comms. We couldn't make heads or tails of it. His comms went down moments later. We got visuals up of the area just in time to see one of the Huntsman attacked by the strange Grimm. It lowered what appears to be its mouth onto the Huntsman. His aura was drained away in seconds."

Harry paled, suddenly knowing exactly what they were dealing with. Ignoring the girls gasps behind him, he turned to look at Dumbledore. The old wizard looked extremely sad, and spoke the word he'd been dreading, "Dementors."

"Now, it's obvious that our Huntsman are currently unequipped to deal with this threat, so I will need all of you who have dealt with them before, to do so again this time. Once you have destroyed them, we can deal with coming up with contingencies in case this becomes a recurring threat."

"That won't be possible." The office suddenly stilled as the tension in the room skyrocketed.

"These things followed you here from your world. Now they're devouring the souls of my men and women. Do you care to enlighten me why it won't be possible for you to help?" Harry backed away a step reflexively. He'd never heard Ozpin's voice sound so dangerous, yet Dumbledore didn't cower under the Huntsman's gaze.

"I did not say we could not help, merely that it is not possible to kill them. Wizards and Witches have been trying for centuries with no success. The common consensus is that it is impossible."

Ozpin cursed while spinning on his heel to look out the window in thought.

"It may not be," Harry barely even realized he'd spoken until he felt the rooms occupants eyes all lock onto him. The idea just having formed in his head, he met Dumbledore's gaze, "What about Fiendfyre, sir?"

His shocked inhalation seemed loud in the suddenly quiet room. "How do you know about that Harry?" Dumbledore looked even more concerned than before.

"I read about it one of the many Defense Against the Dark Arts books in the Room of Requirement last year while preparing for the DA. I know what it is and what it does, even if it didn't tell me how to cast it."

Dumbledore actually looked relieved at that statement, "It's very Dark Magic-"

"But it's one of the only things I can think of that's powerful enough to have a chance of wiping something like a Dementor out. Don't you agree?"

"It's possible, but you have to understa-"

"No! If it's a possibility we have to try it. I know it's considered dark, but it's all about intent. Both you and Voldemort were throwing it around like it was nothing in the Ministry last year. I don't see how this is any different. If the Dementors get out here, it will be chaos."

Dumbledore sighed, "Very well. You're right Harry. It's probably for the best."

"Hermione, Remus, and I should be able to contain them in one place with the patronus charm while you see if these things really can be destroyed."

"A sound battle strategy Harry," Harry could tell Ozpin looked relieved at this turn in the conversation. "I knew there was a good reason I made you a team leader. Should I have a bullhead prepared for you all to depart."

"There's no need. We'll just apparate."

Hermione looked scandalized, "Harry! You can't apparate until you're seventeen! It's against the law!"

"We're not exactly on Earth Hermione. Those laws don't apply here."

"Oh… right," she looked down sheepishly.

"Let's get ready to go then."

"I'm coming too!" Pyrrha spoke up causing Harry to stiffen.

"You won't be able to fight against Dementors Pyrrha!"

"Then I'll help evacuate citizens from the area," Harry could see her eyes narrowing slightly. He knew he couldn't argue with her about this. He had no power to tell her what to do anyway, plus he knew she could handle herself. It was just that some of his old fears were setting in again. Things from his old world were now here, only because of him, and they were putting those he cared about in danger. He was putting the ones he cared about it danger.

"Fine," he bit out. He pulled out his scroll, sending his locker to land near the area Ozpin had indicated on the map earlier. "Do you both know here we're going?" At their nods he continued, "I'll side along Pyrrha. I'm assuming from our conversation earlier that one of you will have to take Hermione as well." Then without sparing any more words, he offered Pyrrha his arm and they disappeared with a pop.

* * *

The scene they arrived to was straight out of Harry's nightmares. The last two years hadn't dulled the effects that Dementors had on him, in fact it had probably augmented them with the things he'd see. He could hear Pyrrha gasp at what they were seeing, and immediately start shivering as the Dementors cold aura washed over them. He could immediately pick out three unmoving huntsmen. From what he could tell they had already been kissed. He was happy to see one of the team's members still upright attempting with limited success to keep them back from the civilians. He wondered how this Huntress had kept fighting unlike their teammates until he picked out the foxlike ears on top of their head. It was obvious the Dementors were still affecting him, but it didn't seem as bad. He wondered if faunus would have a natural resistance to them, much like Sirius did in his animagus form.

Two more pops announced the arrival of the three other members of their group. Seeing Dumbledore sigh sadly, he turned to his partner, "Let's grab our gear."

Both his and Pyrrha's lockers were wedged into the ground a few meters away. He donned his sword, and cloak, while Pyrrha did the same with her weapons and armour. Despite everything that was currently going on, he couldn't help but idly wonder if Beacon got charged for the property damage every time a student summoned one of those things into the Kingdom.

"Ok Pyrrha, I need you to go and assist the Huntsman over there with citizen evacuation, and relay instructions to any other huntsman that may turn up. We're going to contain the Dementors and see if we can burn these bloody things. If it doesn't work… we'll have to try and drive them out of the Kingdom's borders, but we'll cross the bridge when we come to it… any questions?"

"I'm on it."

He pulled her in for a quick kiss, before he whispered in her ear, "Stay safe. Dementors are nasty creatures. If they somehow break free, and you think you'll be overwhelmed than get out of there. You won't be able to fight them." With one last peck on the lips, the two went their separate ways.

Joining his fellow magic users he stopped and observed the scene for a moment before raising his wand. The others copied him.

"Patronus Charm on three. One!" Harry pushed back on the chill he was feeling both in his mind and around him.

"Two!" He focused in on the night before, at the Vytal Tournament Ball. He couldn't believe it hadn't even been twenty four hours yet. So much had happened since then. He tired to remember exactly how it had felt to hold Pyrrha in his arms. Her soft curves pressed up against him, somehow only made more attractive by the strength he knew lay beneath. The feel of her lips on his as they'd kissed.

"Three!" He gathered his magic up inside of him, ready.

"Expecto Patronum!" The last bit was cried out by four voices in tandem, as several silvery shapes shot forward. Harry's stag, larger and brighter than he'd ever seen it before, pranced forward. Dumbledore's phoenix magestically swooped through the air. Remus' wolf stepped forward letting out a silent snarl. Hermione's otter slipped through the air as if it were water. The air temperature rose noticeably around him.

"For your plan to work, we're going to need to surround the group and keep them in place. If our patronuses are too far apart they'll slip through the cracks, but if we squeeze in on the group too tightly we won't be able to hold them all," Remus told them. His patronus may not have been as powerful as Harry or Dumbledore's, but his knowledge of the spell itself was made apparent, much like it had been when he'd tutored Harry in his third year.

With his will alone, he instructed the ethereal stag to circle around, pushing the mass of Dementors back away from the faunus huntsman and Pyrrha who had just made it to his side. As the wraith like beings tried to scatter, much like they had over the black lake all those years ago, Dumbledore's silver phoenix swooped in from the other side forcing them back the other direction. Remus and Hermione boxed in the other two sides moments later.

Harry could tell Hermione's patronus seemed to be the weakest of the four, but as the patronuses started to slowly rotate in tandem around the whirling mass, it seemed to be covered. He actually was in awe of the magic they were doing. The spell they were holding was actually containing what appeared from the outside to be a blob of inky blackness, writhing cloaks, and the occasionally skeletal limbs.

Glancing around he couldn't see any civilians nearby. "We're clear Professor. It's now or never!"

The ancient wizard seemed to be steeling himself as he stepped forward. He whispered the incantation, but the words seemed to carry unnaturally on the wind and he heard them anyway, " _Gehennam Ignis._ " Harry filed them away for future reference.

The flames leapt from Dumbledore's wand without hesitation. Even before they started to form the creatures he knew they would, Harry couldn't help but think they seemed eager to escape, to burn down everything in their path. He could see the strain on Dumbledore's face already just keeping the demonic fire heading in a straight path.

Just as the form of a gigantic phoenix was taking shape, it crashed into the Dementors. Harry stood still in shock as he watched the display in front of him. He heard something that day that would send shivers down his spine every time he thought about it for rest of his life: the scream of a dementor. The fact that a creature so terrifying could make a noise that sounded so terrified beguiled his mind. He was suddenly completely understanding of Dumbledore's reluctance to perform the spell.

What surprised him even more than the sounds the Dementors made as they burned to ash, was how each and every one of their patronuses were consumed as well. If anything, Fiendfyre's ability to consume magic was understated.

Of course, with their Patronus Charms broken, a few Dementors who escaped the flames were attempting to flee. Therefore Harry did something stupid. He began running, trying to chase them down, while drawing his sword.

His wand was sheathed into the handle of his blade with a now practiced motion. Acting on pure instinct, he tried something he should have thought of before. Drawing once again on his memories of Pyrrha, and how happy he felt when they were together he cried, "Expecto Patronum!"

Unlike before, no spiritual guardian burst forth, but his blade did light up like a bloody lighthouse. Blinking his rapidly readjusting eyes, he sprinted towards the closest Dementor laughing. Holding his sword like this, only seemed to amplify the good feelings you get around a patronus. It was like some kind of weird feedback loop. His happiness made the spell stronger which only served to make him feel even better. He was sure he either looked like an idiot or a madman running down a city street, chasing after a soul sucking demon while laughing his ass off.

Once he'd caught up to the Dementor, all it took was one swing straight through its body, for the thing to disintegrate with one last unearthly shriek. The next few were even easier, as Remus and Hermione, cottoning on to his plan, had recast their own patronuses and started corralling the escapees for him to finish.

Cancelling the spell, Harry suddenly stumbled as the momentary effects of the energy drain made themselves known. He knew he'd be ready to go soon enough, but he'd had to channel a whole lot of magic all at once and that didn't come without a cost, hence how he was feeling currently. Glancing over at Dumbledore, he noted he looked to be in a similar state. He'd just managed to wrangle the Fiendfyre back into nonexistence.

He knew both his and the Hogwarts Headmaster's fatigue didn't come from running out of magic or anything like that, seeing how it was theoretically impossible. It was more a mental fatigue than anything. Using magic took will. Focusing on something for a long time, or on something that was a little out of one's depth, tended to leave one tired. Watching the older wizard slowly approach him, he idly wondered why he'd never thought to tell Ozpin that. It would probably help him with his theories around connecting magic and aura. He didn't know much though, or really even understand most of what he'd been thinking about. It would probably be better to tell Dumbledore about Ozpin's theories and let them talk it out. They were both the philosophical type. He was sure they'd have it all figured out in one afternoon.

"Ah Harry! How are you doing? Are you hurt at all?"

"No professor I'm fine. It worked!"

Though tired, the old man chuckled, "That it did my boy, that it did. I would rather have not had to resort to such vile magic, but I can't deny your idea was effective. I never thought I'd see the end of those creatures. Maybe now, we can finally get rid of them all back home."

Harry just nodded, not quite knowing what to say, before he suddenly thought of something else, "Was Voldemort here? I didn't see him, but I thought he would be leading the attack."

"Alas I did not lay eyes on Tom either, but when the last of the Dementors was put down, I did see someone apparate away over there." Dumbledore pointed down a dark alley. "I believe that would have been him. From what I can tell so far, he has not brought any Death Eaters with him. I don't think he wanted anyone to know you had survived the veil. He probably planned to come and kill you and return, no one being the wiser. With his only forces now depleted, he has now backed himself into a corner. I fear it will only make him all the more dangerous."

"You're probably right." The two sat in a companionable silence as Remus and Hermione made their way over towards them. More huntsman and some police were making their way onto the scene. As he did so he couldn't help but notice the bodies of the fallen huntsman. He knew they would still be alive when the paramedics found them, but their soul was gone. Lost forever. He mourned for the sacrifice they'd made to protect Vale. It truly was a fate worse than death.

* * *

"I can't thank you all enough, on behalf of both Beacon and the Kingdom of Vale. We lost some fine huntsman today. They put their lives, their very… souls…. on the line, and because of their sacrifice, we only sustained very minor civilian casualties. I know without all of your help, it would have ended much much worse. So again, thank you."

Harry was pretty thankful too. After he'd come down from what he now dubbed his 'patronus high,' he had realized how lucky they had been. With that many Dementors congregated in downtown Vale, if they had failed it would have spelled disaster. Even one loose Dementor in a populated area would have been catastrophic.

"We appreciate it Professor Ozpin. It seems luck was on our side tonight for once. We'll have to keep our eye out for Voldemort though, as it's most likely that his next attack will be much more direct."

Ozpin nodded, "I'll keep a portion of the security network keeping an out for his appearance. It'll be best to deal with the threat he poses soon."

They all spoke for a few more minutes in the office, before people started to trickle out. That's when Ozpin spoke up again, "Harry. If you wouldn't mind staying for a moment, I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Sure Professor." He saw Dumbledore watching them in concern as he left, but he didn't say anything.

"I know you're all concerned about Voldemort, but I believe there are more pressing matters that need to be dealt with." He said once they were alone. Harry was shocked, and it must have shown on his face because of his next words. "I'm not trying to downplay the threat he poses, but I truly believe between yourself, Headmaster Dumbledore, your friends, and our fellow Huntsman, it is only a matter of time until he is taken down. The Dementors were a different species all together, but no matter what Voldemort has done to himself, he is only human. Salem is a different story. She was once human, but the things she has done would make your Dark Lord cringe. Trust me when I saw she has no humanity left in her."

"W-w-what is she?" Harry could scarcely conceive of any kind of entity worst than the man who had murdered his parents, but the seriousness with which Ozpin spoke, told him it was the truth.

"I don't rightly know anymore. The closest I could come up with would probably be the Queen of the Grimm."

Harry shuddered, trying to imagine what a human had to do to become the Queen of a whole species of soulless monsters. Even Voldemort's control over the Dementors could be described as a very tenuous alliance of convenience at best. He thought it was more that Voldemort didn't care who they feasted on and they wouldn't turn on him because he didn't have enough soul left for him to appeal to them.

"What do we need to do?"

"I was hoping you would be willing to use your… unique… interrogation techniques again to see what information we can get out of Miss Fall. I believe she is the only one who may have some knowledge of what Salem might be up to."

He shuddered once again. He hadn't enjoyed his last experience with legilimency which Ozpin knew. He knew he wouldn't ask this lightly. "Ok."

"Thank you Harry," Harry could tell how sincere his thanks really were. Whatever was going on with this Salem, it was worrying Ozpin more than anything else he'd seen before.

The two left the office, walking towards what he now knew to be Beacon's holding cells, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. "Do we have a time limit? Are the police coming to collect her anytime soon."

"For the moment, the Vale Police are unaware she has been caught," Harry turned and stared at Ozpin in shock. He'd never expected the Headmaster to break the law so blatantly. It made him reevaluate everything he knew about the man. "It is important that we gather whatever information we can from her. I also do not believe the Vale Police would be able to hold her anyway."

"Are her powers under control?"

"They are," Harry saw Ozpin frown slightly as he said this out of the corner of his eye. He wondered what that meant. "We have her outfitted in some aura suppressors. She shouldn't be able to do anything, but be cautious anyways."

"Of course."

They both arrived at their destination, and Ozpin indicated which cell he was to enter, while he went to the console. "Good luck."

The door clicked open as soon as he approached it. Pulling on the handle, he stepped in, sealing the door behind him with another click. Turning back around, his eyes came to rest on the woman before him. He knew she recognized him, as her eyes seemed to shimmer with rage as she gaze upon him. He actually recognized the look quite easily. She was angry that she had been bested, probably even more so than the fact that she was currently captured. It was the same look he'd seen on Draco Malfoy's face over the years when one of his schemes didn't go his way, and he blamed it completely on Harry. Unlike his old childhood nemesis though, Harry could see the calculating looks she was giving him. Malfoy would always let his anger cloud his judgement in areas surrounding him, and had rarely learned from his mistakes. He knew Cinder would be a harder opponent.

"Miss Fall," he inclined his head. "I'm here to ask you some questions."

It was so subtle he almost would have missed it, but he noted the small upturn at the corner of her lip. He knew she thought she now had the upperhand because she had something he wanted. He would prove that statement wrong.

"I need you to tell me what you know about Salem." he had to admit, she was good. Her facial expression didn't even flicker, yet he caught her shoulders tense momentarily. _Jackpot!_ She didn't say anything though.

"I know you work for her Cinder. I need you to tell me what she's up to. You have nothing left to protect. Torchwick has been captured, along with both your accomplices and yourself. Your base in Mountain Glenn has been cleared out, and your plans for the Vytal Tournament have been finished. Just tell me what I need to know." Once again he thought he caught a flicker of a smirk, which for the first time unnerved him. There must be something he was missing. Stepping forward he pulled out his wand. "I'm sorry I have to do this. I need you to tell me what Salem is planning. Legilimens!"

Like last time, his mind swept into his targets. He caught glimpses of thoughts as they swept by. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. Skin pale as bone, haunting red eyes, and the spiderweb of red veins running across their face.

Before he knew what was happening he felt something slam into his mental probe. Left reeling, he tried to cancel the spell, and started to panic when he realized he couldn't. Something had taken ahold of his mind and was starting to attack it. Whatever it was, it was powerful and felt completely foreign. It was not a natural part of Cinder's mind. It felt vast and primal like a force of nature. The closest he could describe it would be to how it felt trying to wrestle control of an elemental type spell. The elements were born to be free, so trying to control them with magic took more willpower than usual. Even then, this felt even more powerful. Maybe, if he hadn't already had a busy day destroying Dementors, he could have broken the connection, but, tired as he was, it took a while to gather the necessary strength.

Blinking his eyes dazedly, he looked up in surprise to meet the Ozpin's concerned gaze. "Are you ok Harry?"

"Ya, I'm fine," his voice came out a little raspy and he realized he must have been screaming. His face felt a bit wet, so he knew he had been crying. The Headmaster helped him to his feet, causing his throbbing head to pound a bit harder.

They were still in the cell, the door ajar. Cinder sat slumped in her restraints, still glaring at the two, but she was watching Harry a bit more warily now. Her face was streaked as well meaning she had probably teared up as well. Ozpin helped him hobble out of the room, locking the cell on their way out. "What happened in there?"

"You first Oz. What did you see?" If he disliked the new nickname he didn't say anything. Harry shakily sat down in a nearby chair.

"Everything appeared to going normal like last time. It appeared as if you attempted the spell the same, and it even seemed to work properly for a few seconds. After that, both you and Miss Fall started screaming as if in extreme pain. I headed towards the cell, and got there just as you finally toppled over. The connection seemed to break after that."

Harry sighed, "It was working at first. I got into her mind for a few moments. I caught a glimpse of Salem. I was able to recognize how she looked from my dream last night, but that's when something attacked my mind. There's something in her head Oz. A foreign presence. It shouldn't be there. I've never quite seen something like this. It was defending her thoughts, yet seemed to hurt her just as much as it hurt me. I don't know why that would be though."

"Is there anything you can do to get through or figure out more about it?"

"I don't think so," Ozpin nodded. Strangely Harry suddenly had the feeling the Headmaster knew more about this than he was letting on.

"I'd ask Professor Dumbledore. If anyone can get through it will be him, and if even he can't, he'll at least know more than me."

Ozpin looked hesitant, but finally seemed to come to a decision with a sigh, "It's probably for the best. I hoped not to have to get your friends involved in this. I will have him summoned here immediately."

As the Headmaster left the room, Harry slumped back in his seat. He was hoping the pain in his head would fade soon. He knew he'd pushed his mind farther than he should have that day. He'd woken up already with a small headache from his vision from Voldemort. That had passed quickly, but even after all the magic he'd cast that day, he'd still gone and tried to enter Cinder's mind. That was one of the biggest mistakes he'd ever made. It made his headaches after occlumency lessons with Snape look tame in comparison.

The door opened and Dumbledore strode in, right before Ozpin, looking concerned, "Are you alright Harry?"

"I've felt better better Professor, but I'm doing alright."

"What happened?"

Harry glanced over at Ozpin only to receive a shrug in response. He knew Ozpin was giving him permission to say what he wanted.

"We caught a criminal a little while ago who had been involved in a string of robberies around Vale. The nature of the robberies were concerning though, so despite his claims of working alone, we believed he was receiving instructions from someone higher up. He refused to talk though, but I eventually I thought of another option: Legilimency." Dumbledore frowned slightly when he said this, but didn't interrupt. "I attempted it, and though I'm not very skilled, I was able to retrieve enough information. We learned he was in fact working for a woman, who was planning a series of terrorist attacks that would kill hundreds if not thousands of civilians if not stopped. We used this information to destroy their plans and last night, before you all arrived, set a trap where we captured her and her accomplices."

"I understand why you did what you did Harry, but you have to understand the mind arts can be extremely dangerous. If you plan on using them in the future I think it would be best if I do some training with you soon." Harry nodded inwardly pleased at the offer. "Now, I don't feel that was the reason you called for me. Did something else happen."

"After the meeting earlier this afternoon, Professor Ozpin held me back to talk. He thinks that the attacks the woman, Cinder Fall, were planning on carrying out were related to this Salem, the one in my dream with Voldemort. He feels she poses more of a threat to all of us than Voldemort ever will. He asked if I was willing to perform legilimency on Cinder as well to see what we can find out about Salem's plans. I agreed. Once I attempted it, I got a momentary visual of her, confirming our theory, yet before I could search for more, something starting defending her mind. It attacked me back. I was barely able to break the connection and now I have a killer headache."

"Headaches are common side effects to both masters and novices of the mind arts. I may have something that could help out. Reach into his pocket, he pulled a small bag. Opening the bag, he summoned a small vial into his hand with a wave of his wand. He handed it over. "Headache potion."

Harry looked at the murky substance with distaste but decided to tip it back anyway, "Cheers." He grimaced. It tasted as bad as he'd expected, but on the bright side he did feel the pressure in his head start to abate. "You just happened to have that on you?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "When we decided to come after you, we weren't quite sure what we'd find on the other side. We stocked up on many essentials, including any potions we might need. They're all in my bag right here." Harry eyed the small bag skeptically which Dumbledore noticed. "It's undetectable extension charm. One of the more handy spells I know."

"Thank you Professor."

"Anytime m'boy. Anytime." He then stood and turned towards Ozpin. "Would you mind if I saw the prisoner Headmaster Ozpin? I am curious to see if I can detect what happened."

Ozpin looked a little shocked but eager all the same, well as eager as the stoic professor ever looked, "I would be much obliged Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Excellent!" The two grey haired men started towards the cells, and Harry hurried after them. He didn't want to miss this. As the door swung open once again, he was pretty sure Cinder had hurriedly straightened herself out of whatever position she'd been currently slumped in. Without the potion he'd just ingested, she was probably still hurting pretty bad.

"I never thought you'd condone torture Ozpin. I was told you didn't have the stomach for it." Despite her obvious discomfort, her voice still had a strange lilt to it. It was sensual, yet commanding. If Harry hadn't known some of the stuff she'd been behind, he might have even been pulled in by it. Neither Ozpin nor Dumbledore seemed affected. "Oh, another old man for me to play with… how fun. I don't know who you are though-"

Before she had a chance to finish, Dumbledore met her gaze and entered her mind. He didn't take out his wand, or even utter an incantation. The only reason Harry knew it had happened was because he could literally feel the magic in the room. He couldn't help but be slightly jealous by the casual display of power and skill, he had just shown. It just reaffirmed to him that he needed to keep training his magic as well. He may have been doing well so far, but there was always room to improve.

Just when he thought that the Hogwarts Headmaster had succeeded where he had failed, Cinder let out a pained scream and Dumbledore came stumbling backwards. Luckily Harry had followed them in and was able to catch him before he fell. He helped lead the aged wizard back out to Harry's previous seat much like Ozpin had for him a little while earlier.

Before he could even ask if he was ok, Dumbledore was looking at both him and Ozpin intently, "Something's wrong. Something is protecting her mind from intrusion. It is not her own doing however. At first I thought she might be possessed, but I was quickly able to rule that out. Whatever is going on, there is some other entity involved inside of her. It was chaotic and powerful. It reminded me almost of the mind of an elemental or even of the Fae."

Harry thought over this, happy to know that there was something strange going on with Cinder, it wasn't just him. The description of the experience was similar to his own, except he didn't know what the mind of an elemental or fairy was like.

"I believe I know what it is," it was Ozpin that had spoken up. Dumbledore and Harry looked at him in interest. "This discussion is best held back up in my office. Harry, please call Miss Nikos. It's time we all talk."

* * *

"Now, the first thing you all should know is that running this academy is not the only thing that I do. I head an organization which is much like what Harry has told me of your Order of the Phoenix, Headmaster Dumbledore." Dumbledore, Pyrrha, and Harry were all gathering around Ozpin's desk, who sat back in his chair watching them carefully.

"They are my own inner circle and we watch over Remnant as a whole. It is our job to keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about. Hence our current focus on Salem. _Now, there's more to this I need to explain, and what better way to explain than to start with a children's story…"_

* * *

Updated: October 28, 2016 (some spelling)


	15. Chapter 14: Sharing Tales

**Chapter 14:** _ **Sharing Tales**_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ **_Hey everyone. I finally got around to finishing another chapter of this fic. Sorry such a long wait! I got really caught up in a few other story ideas I had and then I was back to start my second year of University which meant even less time for writing, but now that volume 4 of RWBY is back on, it inspired me to keep writing. I'll say outright that I don't think this is my best chapter. I really struggled to get it typed out. It mainly consists of stuff that I need to get through to progress the story but wasn't really anything that I really wanted to spend time writing about too much. I think it turned out ok though. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Please enjoy. Let me know what you think in the reviews._

 _Thank you for continuing to support this story. I've seen all your reviews over the past 2+ months and the continuing follows and subscribes. So again, thank you so much!_

* * *

"So these Maidens that you're talking about are real?" Ozpin inclined his head. Harry turned to Pyrrha. "And this is a story you were told as a child?"

Pyrrha looked a little rattled from what she'd just learned but answered her partner anyway, "Yes. My mother used to tell me that story all the time as a child."

"So it's a story that almost every child in this world knows, yet it's actually true… it's not that surprising I guess. Back on earth, and even here on Remnant, everyone knows what a wizard is supposed to be, even if the common consensus is that magic doesn't exist."

"No matter which world, it seems it's always the children's stories…" Dumbledore muttered quietly, fingering his wand.

"What was that Professor?" The old wizard looked startled at the question.

"Oh nothing Harry… it's nothing. Just an old man's musings," he gave Harry a kind smile. Harry was sure it was more than Dumbledore was letting on, but he let go for now. "How do these Maidens' powers work? Is it a form of special semblance like you were telling me about before Professor Ozpin?"

"No. The Maidens are some of the few magical users that exist here on Remnant. As is stated in the story, each one is attributed to one of the four seasons, and their powers are heavily element based. They're powerful but they don't have the variety you have."

"Are they the same Maidens from the story or have the wielders of the power changed over the years?" Harry asked intrigued.

"No they are different. When a Maiden dies, the power is passed onto the next wielder. The thing you have to understand though is that the magic itself is sentient, and chooses its next host. It seems that sometimes it passes on to the last person in the Maiden's thoughts, and is of course only passed down to women."

Harry was amused that Ozpin felt the need to clarify, "That would make sense."

"And this is related to that woman you have in your custody? Is she one these Maidens?" Dumbledore cut in, making Harry realize that he'd forgotten the original reason for this conversation.

"That would make sense! I thought her abilities felt magical! Is that why her mind was protected? The magic of the Maiden powers is sentient?"

"All magic is sentient Harry. It's not a popular opinion with most modern day witches and wizards, seeing as they like the idea that the power is theres to control, but this fact is one of the few things I am completely sure of after my long life." Harry looked at Dumbledore feeling a little surprised. It was a strange thought that the force he was able to manipulate with his will was actually alive in a way.

Ozpin cleared his throat. "To answer your question Harry, yes, in a way you are right, but not completely. Miss Fall is the first case we've ever had of the Maiden's power being taken by force. Fortunately one of my associates was able to sever the connection before the transfer was complete so she only got a portion of the power. We've just barely been able to keep the rightful Fall Maiden alive since."

"What would happen if she were to pass away?" Dumbledore asked.

"We are not completely sure, but we believe the power would seek out its other half. It's still possible that it would seek out a new host like normal, but we couldn't take the risk of Miss Fall coming into possession of its full capabilities."

Harry nodded in agreement. He'd had some difficulty dealing with Cinder when she only had partial powers, he didn't want to know what it would have been like to face her at full strength. Glancing over at Pyrrha, who still seemed to be shocked by everything, he thought of something else that made him narrow his eyes. "How is Pyrrha related to all this? You said you had plans for her that you wouldn't tell either of us, but now you've brought her into this conversation."

Ozpin expression remained stoic, "I had been looking for a new candidate to take on the mantle of the Fall Maiden. Miss Nikos had recently become my first choice."

"What! M-me?" Pyrrha interjected before Harry could ask any more questions.

"Yes. Ever since initiation you have shown yourself to be one of the top students in your class, your combat ability is second to none, and your intrinsic kindness is plain for all to see. I don't see how we could find anyone better."

"Thank you," she ducked her head in embarrassment. Harry had to agree with the Headmasters observations. His girlfriend was still the most graceful person he'd ever seen move in a fight, and he knew she truly did have a heart of gold. He reached over and gave her leg a squeeze and smile, hoping to convey his thoughts to her.

Turning back, to Ozpin, he affixed his serious expression. Everything he'd just thought about wasn't what bothered him, it was what was left unsaid, "How was this supposed to work? I thought you said you can't control where the power goes?"

Ozpin shifted slightly in his seat. Harry almost didn't notice it, but it was enough that he could tell the Headmaster was uncomfortable with the current topic. He didn't say anything for a moment, but when he did it seemed to be with great reluctance, "We have some new technology designed by scientists in Atlas that should allow us to transfer the power to Miss Nikos."

Harry was starting to get a growing feeling of foreboding, "How does that work? There is no technology designed back on Earth that could affect magic in such a way."

Again, Ozpin waited a few moments before answering, "It works by transferring one person's aura to another."

There were gasps heard all around, and before he knew what he'd done Harry had jumped to his feet. "And what would that do to Pyrrha! Wouldn't that effect her own aura."

"We weren't sure but-"

"Weren't sure! This is Pyrrha's life! Her very soul! You were going to put her through this without knowing it would work for sure!" Harry demanded.

"No! Of course not… if you'd just calm down Mr. Pot-"

"Actually, I think I'd like to hear the answer to that as well." Harry glanced over at Dumbledore, who in the last few moments had drawn himself upward to the maximum of his own considerable height. His expression was dark, something he hadn't seen since his fight with Voldemort at the Ministry. "Magic relating to the soul is not something to be taken lightly. It's beyond what any human being should be dabbling in."

With a jolt Harry was reminded of what Dumbledore had told him Voldemort had done to his own soul that very morning. It seemed half of this Maiden's aura was trapped in Cinder. The very thought sent shivers down his spine.

"It's not something we'd ever wanted to have to do. It was set up as a last resort. I was actually hoping, especially now with all of you here, you could find a way around this problem with magic. At the very least a way to free the power that was stolen by Cinder Fall."

"You said you have the Fall Maiden in your custody?"

Ozpin hesitated for a moment, "We do."

"Good. Good. I'd like to see her if possible," and just like that Dumbledore's grandfatherly persona was back. You'd never know him from the intimidating wizard he'd been a moment before looming over the desk. "I'll try to cast a few diagnostic charms… see what I can discover. It will take a bit of time, and I'll have to think this through carefully. Sight unseen, I already have a few ideas to try and return the stolen power. It will all depend on how it was accomplished in the first place."

"I'll take you down to the vault later." Ozpin smiled graciously. "I believe that concludes everything that needed to be spoken of at the moment. Miss Nikos, please don't let this weigh too heavily on your conscious for the moment. Like Professor Dumbledore said, it will be some time before any decisions are made, and hopefully we have bought ourselves a bit of a reprieve with the capture of Cinder Fall."

"Yes, thank you Headmaster." Pyrrha said rising. Harry nodded his head respectively as he followed her out.

"Headmaster Ozpin, I also wanted to speak to you about the idea of putting up some wards around the campus to hel-" Dumbledore's words were cut off as the elevator door shut.

"How are you doing?" Harry asked taking Pyrrha's hand as he turned towards her.

"I'm fine," she smiled weakly. He raised on his eyebrows in question causing her to sigh. "Really, I'm doing fine. It was a lot to take in, so I just need some time to digest it all."

"Well if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into a hug, reveling in the feeling of warmth he got in his chest every time he held her close. After a moment he released her, pulling back so he could see her eyes. The uncertainty he'd seen there earlier was mostly gone, leaving only a warm adoration behind. Unable to help himself he leaned forward again, this time to capture her lips in his own. As it had seemed to happen often lately, the kiss quickly grew more heated. Even the ding of the elevator door wasn't enough to distract the young couple. They probably would have kept on going if it hadn't been the gasp of surprise that indicated someone else was there.

Quickly jumping apart, Harry and Pyrrha looked to see who had caught them, meeting the gaze of a very red faced Hermione. "I-I'm s-sorry Harry… Pyrrha. I was just coming t-to see where you were."

"That's ok Hermione. We just got out of a meeting with Ozpin," Harry tried to slow his racing heart, and control his own blush. Pyrrha didn't seem to be faring any better in the same endeavor, if her flushed cheeks were any indication. He tried to change the subject, "Actually, do you know where Ron is?"

"Oh…," she looked surprised. "I think he's turned in for the night already Harry."

"Oh ok... " Harry didn't bother to hide the note of disappointment in his voice. He was hoping to talk to his first friend and clear the air from earlier.

"He'll come around Harry. Like I said before, it was hard for him when you were gone. I know he might not always show it, but your friendship means alot to him. I don't think he ever considered you might not want to come back."

"I.. I see…" Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly trying to formulate a response. Suddenly he felt Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder. Looking back she gave him a comforting smile.

"Remnants been good for you Harry."

Hermione's strange tone of voice caught Harry's attention, "How so?" He noted that his friend almost seemed sad.

"Well the Harry I knew before could barely handle talking to girls other then me for the most part, now just look at you and Pyrrha. I found your snogging in the elevator for merlin's sake!" All three teens reddened once again at her reminder. "Apart from that, I've noticed you're a lot more confident, more self assured. You seem... happier."

"And that makes you sad?" Asked Harry confused.

Hermione scowled, "Of course not! Ron's not the only one who is sad that your staying here. It's just obvious to me that you belong here, and I wish you were coming home with us."

"Oh…," Harry searched for something to say once again, hoping to dispel the minefield that was their current topic of conversation. Hermione rolled her eyes. After a few moments of silence, Harry finally came up with an idea. "Say Hermione, what would you say to me showing you around the Beacon Library?"

* * *

The next day found Harry wandering down the halls of Beacon. He was still trying to track down his wayward best mate. The night before, though he had realized he'd probably soon come to regret it, he followed through on taking Hermione to the Beacon library. Once they'd arrived, he'd just tried step back and stay out her way on her ravenous quest to consume knowledge, lest he lose any limbs. They'd run into Blake on their trip, and the two bookworms had hit it off pretty quickly.

This morning however, Pyrrha, knowing that he wanted to talk to Ron, had tagged along with Ren and Nora as they went out. He'd gone straight to the rooms in use by the visitors from Hogwarts after that, only to find them already empty, thus leading to his current predicament.

"Hey Harry!" Glancing down the hall he was met with the cheery face of team RWBY's resident blonde brawler, one Yang Xiao Long.

"Yang, " Harry inclined his head in greeting.

"Cheer up Harry! You're always so serious. It's a beautiful day outside and right now you get to gaze upon my wondrous figure, what could be wrong?" She struck a pose and winked as she said this making him blush. He tried to force a bigger smile. Something she seemed to notice as her demeanor turned more serious. "What's up anyway?"

"Not much. I've just been trying to track down my one friend Ron."

"Oh! The tall redhead who's been perpetually grumpy since he got here?"

Harry winced at the last descriptor, "Yep… that's the one."

"I saw him walk by once earlier, but I'm not sure where he went to. I'm sure you'll find him though."

"Thanks Yang," he gave her a genuine smile this time.

"No problemo Harry!"

"What are you doing wandering the halls anyway?"

"Well your other friend Hermione stopped by this morning. I love my partner, I really do, but I can only take so much nerdy chat before I go crazy."

Harry smiled wanly, "Ah yes… Hermione sure does like to talk about her books."

"Understatement of the century my friend," she slapped his shoulder as she went by. "See ya later!"

"Bye Yang."

* * *

Harry spent another good portion of an hour looking for his friend before he finally gave it up as a bad job. Entering his dorm room he sighed, stopping in the middle as he tried to figure out what to do, not noticing that the door hadn't closed behind him. So it was in complete surprise that he felt the sudden extreme pain in his lower right leg. Crying out he dropped to ground as said leg no longer consented to hold his weight.

Looking around wildly through his watering eyes, Harry froze as he came face to face with a pair of familiar eyes. One brown the other pink. Recognizing who it was immediately, Harry scrambled for his wand. One well placed kick from the petite girl sent it flying out of his reach.

Yanking the bladed tip of her parasol out of his leg, how it had gotten past his aura he wasn't sure, she twirled it around, the point coming dangerously close to his face. Acting on instinct more than anything, he sent a wandless banisher that hit the girl head on, and sent her flying back. Hoping to capitalize on this chance, he attempted to stumble to his feet, only to realize that wasn't a good idea with his injured leg. Before he could come up with another plan, he felt something hard impact the side of his head. Seeing stars, it took him a few moments to realize the girl had bashed him with the handle of her umbrella.

The girl looked enraged now as her small body climbed on top of him, before she smiled cruelly making him shiver. He figured out why she was smiling a second later when her parasol came stabbing downwards through his arm and into the floor.

"Aggghhhhh!" Gritting his teeth Harry tried to force himself passed the pain so he could come up with a plan. One thing he was sure of was that this attack was personal for her. He didn't think it was due to their first fight at the docks, and thus was forced to concede that maybe this girl's relationship with her boss went a little deeper than he originally thought.

Raising his still good arm in attempt to banish her off him again, she started twist the blade in his arm, putting a stop to that, as she slapped his hand away. Just when he was starting to lose hope that he could come out of this encounter alive, he heard a voice.

"Hey get off of him! Expulso!"

All Harry saw was the girl's shocked expression before the curse slammed into her back, exploded, and sent her reeling through the air. As soon as he was clear, Harry got a firm grip on the weapon and ripped it free, keeping his teeth clenched against the pain. Climbing to his feet, Harry leaned heavily against the wall, as to keep most the weight off his injury.

"Alright there Harry?"

"Not too bad Ron, but next time try to stick to the non explosive curses when I'm so close to the target."

He nodded sheepishly, "Oh right… sorry about that."

"That's alrigh-" Harry was cut off as woman with multi-coloured hair lunged forward kicking out his bad leg and reaching for her weapon. Her clothes seemed singed, but it seems that her aura had taken most of the damage for her. Luckily for Harry, he'd moved in front of the bed at this point, so he didn't fall back very far. He somehow managed to keep a grip on the parasol, though the girl did try and wrench it out of his grip.

Rolling across the bed, the woman kept her hold as well and started twisting it back, forcing him to release his hand. Throwing out his other hand he managed to banish her back again, causing the swipe she'd just made, to only give the arm, that he'd risen to protect his face, a very shallow cut.

As Harry scrambled off of the bed and across the floor to recover his fallen wand, Ron was advancing on the girl. Just as he finally got his hands on it, he turned in time to see Ron be disarmed and take a hit to the chest that made him stumble back. Harry figured Ron had gotten too close to her, where he would be at a disadvantage in a fight. "Expelliarmus!"

The streak of blue light that left his wand impacted the girl and wretched the weapon right out her hands and into the air. Harry's follow up, "Confringo!" Proceeded to smash it into pieces.

The one thing he realized immediately was that if he'd thought the woman was angry before, it was nothing compared to her state of mind now. Pulling out a dagger she'd previously had hidden, she once more charged into the fray. Harry found himself glad for the training he'd been doing with Pyrrha. Even though he didn't have his sword here to fight in close quarters, if he hadn't learned to dodge properly like he was currently, he would have been dead several times over.

Over the next minute, Harry got much closer to her new weapon than he was strictly comfortable with, but it did allow him to notice some things that were quite peculiar. Instead of normal metal, the blade seemed to be made of some kind of sharpened black stone. Apart from that, Harry also noted that there several runic looking symbols painted along it as well. Harry wasn't sure why, but it gave him a bad vibe.

Tracking her movements with his eyes, he waited for the opening to eppear before rolling backwards and releasing a blasting curse. Just when the curse hit her, her image was shattered into million pieces. Feeling uneasy, Harry spun around just in time for the dagger aimed to slip between his ribs to miss. Taking a step back he tripped over something on the floor and fell backward. Seeing her chance, the girl lunged forward for a final time, intent on finishing this, when her blade was deflected off another arm.

It didn't cut to deeply, but it did cause the girl to drop her secondary weapon. Seeing that she was losing the battle, she clambered back to the exit, avoiding their spells through a complicated feat of gymnastics that left him impressed.

The door slammed shut to cover her escape, allowing the two boys to relax. Panting in exertion, Harry flopped down on the bed. "You ok Ron? It looks like she got you once?"

"Ya, I'm fine. It just a small nick with that dagger. How about you? You looked a lot worse when I came in. Should we take you to the hospital wing?"

"I should be fine I think. It's just a little tender now. My auras already started healing it." Harry sat up. "You see." He motioned to where new skin had already closed over the stab wounds.

"That's pretty crazy! Would be nice to have that for Quidditch injuries." Harry rolled his eyes, but agreed anyway

"That it would."

There was silence in the room for a moment. "You know… Harry. I wanted to apologize for snapping yesterday. It just took me a little by surprise. Despite the constant danger you find yourself in-"

"Hey!"

Ron continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted, "I don't really know what I'll do without my best mate back home. And you can't deny it, you were just almost killed by a girl with icecream hair! That's pretty strange even for you!"

Harry grinned before letting out a sigh, "It's ok. I'll miss you guys too, but I have a real life here now. I'm on my way to becoming a huntsman, I have Pyrrha, and no one has unreasonable expectations of me. Any celebrity I ever achieve will be on my own merits, not because my parents died and I didn't."

"I know mate. Hermione talked to me, and helped me straighten some things out. I won't say I'm happy about it but-"

Suddenly Ron stiffened. "Hey, you ok?" It only took Harry a second to realize that his friend was now clutching his arm tightly where he'd been cut moments before. After taking several moments to pry it away from the wound, Harry's eyes widened as got a good look at it. The skin around the cut had started blacken and harden.

Trying to keep a level head, Harry scanned the floor for the dagger. He locked onto it just as he saw it turned to dust before his very eyes. Even that faded a moment later. Cursing, he looked back at Ron who was now looking even paler. Luckily the black colour around his wound didn't seem to be noticeably spreading at all.

Knowing he had to get Ron to the hospital wing right away, he jumped into action, flicking his wand in his friends direction, "Mobilicorpus!" His friends body rose up to float in the air before him. Yanking open the door, Harry started jogging down the hall, with Ron suspended before him. He didn't care that he was currently covered in blood, he didn't care that his still healing leg was protesting all movement, let alone the strain he was currently putting on it, and he didn't care that a crowd of students were watching him in the halls as he blatantly used his magic in the open. All he cared about was saving his best friend.


End file.
